Dr Shahak Sir: I have only just read the article
by Patrick Marnham in the 6 March issue of your journal.
Patrick Marnham bases his case against Israel on a book by the Israeli Professor Shahak, chairman of the 'Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights'.
He recommends Dr Shahak as a man best qualified to conclude that Israel is a racist State in the 'full meaning of the word'.
But I am afraid Patrick Marnham is not qualified to judge Dr Shahak's allegations, because he appears to be ignorant of crucial evidence against Dr Shahak from two most important world organisations on human rights before which Dr Shahak presented his testimony. These two human rights organisations are `The International Federation for the Rights of Man', accredited to the Council of Europe, and 'The International League for the Rights of Man' in New York, accredited to the United Nations.
The Israeli League of Dr Shahak had been a member of the latter, until, after an inquiry in 1973, it was suspended because it was under the political control of the Communists and indulged in irresponsible declarations and actions. In support of this judgment there is a document on the results of the evidence brought by Dr Shahak in three important cases. 1 will give a few brief excerpts from these.
The first comes from a report presented by Dr Shahak to the special committee of the United Nations set up to look into the treatment of Arabs in Israel-occupied territories.
In his summing-up the President condemned Dr Shahak for having brought grave accusations against Israel before a United Nations body with the minimum of inquiry into the facts, so that a large number of the accusations had even been refuted by the evidence of his own witnesses.
The second body of evidence about Dr Shahak's activities is from a report of a mission investigating a case in Haifa, mandated by the International Federation of Roman Catholic Jurists, referring to the torture of prisoners.
Summing up, the President said he could not find any truth in the allegations of torture. He added that he found the silence of Dr Shahak's own witnesses 'inexplicable'.
The third action brought by Dr Shahak was at a conference in Lausanne in 1974. The President of the French League for the Rights of Man in his summing-up said he had been forced to discount the evidence from the Israeli League because it was based exclusively on assertions devoid of documentary proof and he had to disallow them publicly.
Many questions still remain for Patrick Marnham-1 have only tried to fill in some of the information your readers should know about Dr Shahak.
Dora Gaitskell House of Lords, London SW1
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