Avi Shlaim is an Israeli-British historian and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at St Antony’s College, Oxford. Born to a wealthy Jewish family in Baghdad, he immigrated to Israel as a child and served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the 1960s. His analysis of declassified Israeli government archives later led him to challenge official state historiography.
Shlaim is a leading figure among Israel’s “New Historians.” He is best known for his 1999 book, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, which examines how Israeli security policy has consistently favored unilateral military deterrence over diplomatic engagement. In recognition of his scholarship on Middle Eastern international relations, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2006.
Shlaim is a frequent commentator on Middle Eastern foreign policy, writing regularly for publications like The Guardian. He steadfastly supports Palestinian self-determination and publicly denounces occupation policies as “state terrorism“, arguing that lasting peace requires an explicit recognition of historical displacement and sustained international pressure on Israel.