Israel Shahak
Israel Shahak | |
|---|---|
ישראל שחק | |
Shahak in 1980s | |
| Born | Israel Himmelstaub April 29, 1933 |
| Died | July 2, 2001 (aged 68) |
| Nationality | Poland (1933–1945) Israel (from 1948) |
| Education | Hebrew University of Jerusalem (PhD) Stanford University |
| Occupation(s) | Professor of chemistry, political scientist, civil rights activist, author |
| Signature | |
Dr. Israel Shahak (Hebrew: ישראל שחק; born Israel Himmelstaub, 28 April 1933 – 2 July 2001) was an Israeli professor of organic chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a Holocaust survivor, an intellectual of liberal political bent, and a civil-rights advocate and activist on behalf of both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). For twenty years, he headed the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights (1970–90) and was a public critic of the policies of the governments of Israel. As a public intellectual, Shahak's works about Judaism proved controversial, especially the book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (1994).