SIR,—I have no doubt that someone more competent than myself
will reply to your editorial outburst against Israel and its Prime Minister. But even to the layman it must be obvious that the picture you pre- sent is biased in the extreme.
To say that Israel wants peace but only on her own terms is simply not in accordance with the known facts. Mr. Ben-Gurion and other Israeli leaders have stated over and over again that they' arc prepared to meet with Arab leaders any time and in any place for peace talks, without prior conditions. This was repeated by the Israel Premier in London as recently as a fortnight ago.
Your attempt to whitewash the Arab military dictators who hold sway in the Middle East and daily threaten war against Israel (and against each other) will take in no one. The United Nations Charter demands that all member-States should live at peace with each other. How do you reconcile this with the contention of Nasser that he is in a state of war with Israel and is therefore justified in closing the Suez Canal to her shipping and indulging in acts of piracy? Surely everything depends on this basic question.
Such expressions as 'the subservience of the British and New York press to Israel,' Israel is merely a Western conspiracy,' Israeli influence over Britain's Middle East policy and outlook' could have been lifted—and probably have been—straight out of the literature which the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his Fascist friends disseminate. They are ludicrous and quite unworthy of a great liberal journal like the Spectator.—Yours faithfully,
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