What happened in Haifa? (Or the second edition to Elder of Ziyon is a Liar)

From the Elder of Ziyon "Either way, the point is that Jews did not actively try to depopulate Palestine of its Arab population and this myth has been kept alive for propaganda and political purposes -" It is useful to look at Haifa as a case study, bc this is an example where Elder himself claims that Arabs were pleaded with to stay. The short list of atrocities in Haifa includes: Indiscriminate and protracted mortarings, sniping, Jeeps brought in playing recorded "horror sounds" and threats to use poison gas and atomic weapons were issued. The Carmeli Brigde was ordered to "kill every adult male" and to attack with firebombs "all objects that can be set alight". While the Zionist civilian leaders, and this is an isolated case, asked Arab civilian leaders to stay, the Arabs preferred to flee, perhaps bc of what was actually happening by the Zionist military leadership. Ben Gurion himself, on the flight of Arabs from haifa, noted "What a sight!". When told that a Zionist official was asking the Arabs to stay, Ben-Gurion responded "Doesnt he have anything better to do?". The Carmeli Brigade shelled the city and Arab crowds that gathered in the city square for an entire day, precipitating their flight from the Haifa port. Indeed, the IDF intelligence report of June 1948 cited these examples in its recommendation for precipitating Arab flight. Thats a summation, but the point is this: is that any wonder that the Arabs fled Haifa?