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[Text of the letter:]

We regret that the Guardian hasn’t yet covered the important criticism made of Human Rights Watch (HRW) last week by its founder and chairman for 20 years, Robert Bernstein. Bernstein lamented the fact that HRW has allowed itself to become a tool for those who would see the demise of the state of Israel.

This recent destructive role of HRW – which was once one of the world’s great human rights organisations – should not pass unnoticed. In the Middle East, a region dominated by regimes that violate human rights in horrendous ways, HRW has singled out Israel for condemnation, often using highly unreliable witnesses to do so. Not only have they failed to allocate proper resources to monitoring the dictatorships that are rife in the region but senior HRW officials even recently went to Riyadh to raise funds from people associated with the Saudi regime, emphasising HRW’s work demonising Israel while doing so.

In order that HRW can once again fulfil the role for which it was created, we call upon HRW’s board members to institute a full independent review of the organisation for which they are responsible.

Elie Wiesel, Prof Alan Dershowitz, R James Woolsey, Elliott Abrams, Tom Gross, Prof Judea Pearl, Douglas Murray