Avi Shlaim - Biography

Biography

Avraham (Avi) Shlaim was born to wealthy Jewish parents in Baghdad, Iraq. The family lived in a mansion with ten servants. His father was an importer of building materials with ties to the Iraqi leadership, including then-prime minister Nuri Said. After a grenade was thrown into the central synagogue in Baghdad in 1951, Shlaim's father was one of 100,000 Jews who registered to leave the country and surrender their citizenship. A subsequent law ruled that all those who left forfeited all rights, including property rights. The Shlaim family lost all their assets. His father cross the border illegally on a mule, while Shlaim, his mother and sisters flew to Cyprus, reuniting in Israel.

Shlaim left Israel for England at the age of 16 to study at a Jewish school. He returned to Israel in the mid-60s to serve in the Israel Defence Forces, then moved back to England in 1966 to read history at Jesus College, Cambridge. He obtained his MA and married the great-granddaughter of David Lloyd George, who was the British prime minister at the time of the Balfour Declaration. He has lived in England ever since, and holds dual British and Israeli nationality.

He obtained an MSc (Econ.) in International Relations in 1970 from the London School of Economics, and his PhD from the University of Reading. He was a Lecturer, then Reader, in politics at the University of Reading from 1970-87.