“Fury, outrage, disappointment, betrayal” were the words bandied about, the tone of voice noticeably harsh. In telephone interviews I conducted with community leaders in Johannesburg this week, there was no escaping the fact that South Africa’s Jewish community was incensed.
This Yom Kippur, had Judge Richard Goldstone asked for forgiveness, which he didn’t, he would have found that even the most virtuous members of his old community could not bring themselves to grant it. From their golden boy, he has gone to being the wicked son.
There is palpable anger at Goldstone within the mainstream South African Jewish community; a feeling that one of their own has betrayed them, sold them out. Not simply one of their own, but one of their most respected representatives, someone they held in high esteem, a champion of the new South Africa. Here, the much-respected judge has fallen a long way since publishing his scathing report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza; his once formidable stature shattered, his golden aura blackened. The once-brave judge who opened up apartheid’s can of worms and took on Yugoslav and Rwandan war criminals, did not do the brave thing this time – he did not defend Israel against the Human Rights Council onslaught. He did the opposite – he lent his standing, his Jewishness, to the attack on his people.
If during Operation Cast Lead a small minority of South Africa’s Jews signed a petition of “not in my name,” then the vast majority of the community is now saying “not in my name” to Goldstone.
Very few people think Goldstone did the right thing by taking the job of heading the UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission into the Gaza operation. There is some appreciation that his report did, for the first time, criticize Hamas, but there is overwhelming rejection of Goldstone himself and his report’s conclusion.
“He sold us out,” said an angry Ze’ev Krengel, the usually soft-spoken, liberal, Zionist chairman of the South African Board of Governors. “The damage has been done. He proved that terrorism works, that if you fight from within your own civilians you can win.”
Community leaders had a bad feeling about the commission from the start. They were convinced that its mandate was flawed, despite Goldstone’s inclusion of a probe against Hamas, and that the members of the commission had already shown themselves to be biased against Israel. With all that proof, they believe, Goldstone should never have taken on the job.
“If [former United Nations high commissioner for human rights] Mary Robinson refused to lead the mission, how could judge Goldstone agree to it?” Krengel asked.
Why did Goldstone take the job? The cynical argue that at his advanced age (Goldstone is 71), he was looking for ways to keep his name in the spotlight, to keep himself relevant. Some think he is vying for the position of next UN secretary-general, and that his latest work will endear him to the large non-aligned bloc. People who know him believe he acted out of arrogance; that he thought he could get another high-profile feather in his cap. Others think he truly, naively believed he could make the commission more impartial and more balanced because of who he was: a judge and a Jew. Still others who know him well believe his heart was truly in the right place, even if he was sometimes too ambitious.
In the end, there is almost wall-to-wall agreement in the community that Goldstone took on a flawed case, and that he has sullied his good name.
GOLDSTONE’S REPORT has capped what has been a very difficult year for South Africa’s Jews. The trouble started during the IDF’s Gaza operation in January. First came the anti-Semitic tirade by former deputy foreign minister Fatima Hajaig at a pro-Palestinian rally in the Lenasia township outside of Johannesburg at the height of the fighting.
“No matter which [US] government comes into power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush, the control of America, just like the control of most Western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money, and if Jewish money controls their country, you cannot expect anything else,” Hajaig said.
The Jewish Board of Deputies, usually wary of rocking the boat, went after Hajaig with everything they had, demanding a retraction and apology. They got a tepid apology, but the incident made many in the community feel very uncomfortable.
Next came an aggressive and sustained anti-Israel campaign by the country’s largest trade union, COSATU, one of whose top officials said his organization “would make life hell” for Zionists and their supporters. South African Jews took that to mean them, and COSATU never dissociated itself from those comments.
This incident was followed by a COSATU-affiliated labor group refusing to offload Israeli-made goods from a ZIM ship docked at Durban Harbor. That action, while ultimately unsuccessful, received a lot of press coverage.
Next came the fiasco at the Limmud conference held last August. David Benjamin, a South African-born Israeli serving in the IDF Military Advocate-General’s unit during Cast Lead, was brought out to the conference to talk about Israel. When the South African branch of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC)got wind of Benjamin’s visit, they accused him of being a war criminal – arguing that his position in the army made him responsible for allowing attacks on civilian targets – laid a charge against him at a Johannesburg police station and demanded his arrest. This was, of course, picked up by the media.
The situation got worse when the PSC, at an acrimonious demonstration outside the annual Jewish learning seminar, accused WITS University’s Vice Chancellor Loyiso Nongxa of hosting a “war criminal” on the university’s Parktown campus, where Limmud had rented out lecture halls. Furthermore, the PSC accused Jewish security guards at the Limmud conference of “apartheid-style” racial profiling by not allowing black students onto the campus during the conference, a charge denied by witnesses at the event.
The vice chancellor, under intense pressure from the PSC, responded to the charges by establishing a committee of inquiry into the matter, led by another respected Jewish South African anti-apartheid activist and human rights champion, Geoff Bundlender. Nongxa, in an e-mail sent to the entire WITS staff, said he was “appalled at what is happening in the Middle East… at atrocities committed against civilians” – and Nongxa wasn’t referring to the civilians of Sderot. Bundlender, who has been interviewing Limmud and PSC officials, is expected to release his report in the coming days.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, an aggressive anti-Israel demonstration, organized by the PSC and led by anti-Zionist Jewish politician Ronnie Kasrils, was held after Cast Lead outside the main Jewish community center in Johannesburg, and not, as in the past, outside the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria.
This sent out a message that the Jewish community, and not just Israel, was being targeted, according to Geoff Sifrin, editor of the South African Jewish Report.
“This was the first time that a Jewish institution was targeted, and it led to a feeling of embattlement,” Sifrin told the Post.
ALL OF these events of the past year combined to put the Jewish community in an uncomfortable position, a sense of accumulating discomfort. And it is into this maelstrom that Goldstone’s report, with its scathing and unbalanced attack on Israel, landed with such force. A sense of sustained embattlement, mixed with disgust at his “betrayal,” has given birth to the fury at Goldstone. Here was a respected Jewish judge vindicating the accusation made by the PSC: that, in essence, David Benjamin was a war criminal, that Israeli soldiers could be considered war criminals. With his report, Goldstone went a step too far for the mainstream South African Jewish community.
There are, however, more nuanced voices among some in the Jewish community who know Goldstone very well, and who feel that the blame should be shared by the Israelis. The sense among these people is that in the absence of Israeli cooperation with the Goldstone mission and a genuine attempt to investigate the IDF’s actions, the report could never have been balanced. They posit that Goldstone was not reacting to a perception of Israeli excess, and that he is far too objective to have been influenced by the perceptions of others.
Without a doubt, Operation Cast Lead has caused tremendous harm to Israel’s reputation in South Africa. Some in the Jewish community see the attempt to minimize Gazan civilian casualties as essentially backfiring, primarily because of the extent to which it lengthened the conflict. The net result was bad publicity for Israel, week after week.
Even though Goldstone hasn’t lived among them for years (he lives in London), local Jews are very upset, especially since many in South Africa know the Goldstone family and have taken pride in the fact that one of their own was such a global champion of human rights. They feel that Goldstone has been coopted, drawn into the ongoing, increasing anti-Israel movement. According to Krengel, Sifrin and others, the vast majority of South African Jews can be characterized as very Zionist.
“That’s not to say they’re not open to Israel being criticized – they are. But it has to be within reason,” Krengel told the Post. “It’s so sad that a respected elder member of the tribe would bash Israel so unfairly.”
South African Jews who are considered – by the official Jewish community leadership – to be anti-Zionist make up about 10 percent of the community, but they are a vocal minority with a lot of colorful characters.
“I’d say the South African Jewish community is made up of 90% staunchly pro-Israel people, and 10% staunchly anti-Israel, and Goldstone is very much part of latter group,” said Krengel, the top Jewish official. Only a small proportion of Jews in South Africa would agree with what Goldstone has done and support the findings of his commission, he added.
Krengel and the others, who preferred to remain anonymous, say they are “very, very angry” at Goldstone.
“In the end, the biggest loser will be Richard Goldstone, who will go down in history as the person who judged Israel unfairly,” said Krengel. “He had the power to right the wrongs [of the anti-Israeli Human Rights Council], but he didn’t. He did the opposite.”
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Excellent summary of South African reaction.
I wrote to Goldstone, received a reply from him and just challenged his response to me:
To: Judge Richard Goldstone
From: Barbara Press
Dear Richard
Our paths have crossed many times compelling me to correspond directly with you. I pray your indulgence that you hear me out by reading to the end of my missive. In fact I ask you to share my letter with Noleen from beginning to end and to respond with your thoughts.
It has been a while since (inspired by you as head of ORT South Africa) I, together with Rabbi Bernard at Oxford Shule, established a school to teach the Killarney-Houghton Black domestic workers how to write, read, sew, cook and drive. It has been a while since you praised my father Hubert Press as one of the finest business brains you had ever encountered. It was been a while since I dined with you, Noleen, David and Marilyn Rivkin, discussing opera.
Jewish life has been crying out for a man of the stature of Adolph Cremieux, of Justice Louis Brandeis, of Sir Moses Montefiore, people of the highest integrity and purpose. For those who champion their own people are remembered forever in the annals of history. But those who are self-serving are lost in a trail of ignominy.
South African Jewry stand tall and your efforts in championing Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa were applauded and earned you a reputation as a man of stature.
I am bewildered by the direction you have taken as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council. This rogue Council has been tainted by a membership that does not condemn Iranian tyranny, Chinese oppression, African despotism but spends their time condemning one country unjustly, Israel.
The Goldstone Commission bears your name. One would expect the mandate of any report to be objective so that your name could be respected and a legacy ensured. Instead your committee ignored the facts, embraced bias and rendered the report bearing your name, illegitimate.
You tried to defend yourself in the New York Times but it was transparent and not effective. You could have resigned from the commission and retained your integrity. You knew that Israel faced 12000 Grads and Kassams from its Iran backed terror base of Gaza, 8000 irreversibly traumatizing the families and children of Sderot.
You knew that the U.N. never passed one resolution condemning these deadly missiles. You knew that before and during Operation Cast Lead Israel made thousands of cell phone calls to warn civilians. You knew that Israel sent thousands of texts to warn civilians. You knew that Israel dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets in Arabic (I managed to obtain one of these as evidence) to warn civilians. You knew that Israel aborted operations to avoid civilian deaths. You knew that Israel set up medical facilities on the edge of Gaza to treat civilians. You knew that Israel dropped supplies of food into Gaza to feed civilians.
You also knew that Hamas operatives are not “civilians”. You knew that not only were they not civilians but that they hid behind their own civilians to fire on Israeli civilians. You knew that they misused ambulances for military purposes. You knew that mosques and schools were used for Hamas depots and launching pads. You knew that Hamas operatives kill or shoot at the legs of any Gazans refusing to target Israel. The video footage and U-tube sequences are still available for any and all of us to witness.
You clearly knew that one of your team members had condemned Israel in a published letter even before the conclusion of the incursion or the beginning of your investigation. But you did not resign or distance yourself from the hypocrisy of this illegitimate report.
Instead a tedious 500-page report of the 3 week battle was padded with pages from the tainted U.N. mockery of Israel’s security barrier (misnamed the “wall”). What a sad indictment of the charter of the United Nations.
Richard, you were indeed a respected legal giant in Johannesburg. This report did not arise from ignorance or naivete. I am trying so hard to resist the conclusion that your role and report might represent a self-serving desire to ingratiate yourself for a more senior position in the kangaroo court called the United Nations. But if true-and one hopes that this is not the case-at what price?
Association with the infamous U.N. garners no respect in the USA so why would anyone seek to be head inmate at the U.N. Asylum?
I have been very direct as South Africans are wont to be. But many of us South Africans have been tainted by the perfidy of the Goldstone report. This is the Jewish time of Judgment when the scales of fate are entered in the book of life and we all need to look into our souls. I am not sure how you could comfortably extricate yourself. Perhaps we could discuss this face to face.
Good Yomtov to you, Noleen and your family.
Regards
Barbara Press Fix
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I was compelled to challenge Richard Goldstone’s response to my letter. His comparison of Israel with Apartheid South Africa was opportunistic as I too experienced the South African reality and know them to be the ying and yang of morality. His challenge that I would condemn Israel if I visited Gaza is naive or worse. We all know how hothouses and synagogues were desecrated within days of Israel leaving Gaza, and that Hamas rules but holocaust denier Abbas and Fatah are not any different. And then Richard sanctimoniously pretends to be making Israel a more moral country but pointing out its flaws. How iniquitous to want bring Israel before the Geneva Human Rights Council and then the General Assembly for defending themselves.
Hence the following letter sent to Richard Goldstone. (And you are welcome to share it
—————————————————–
Dear Richard
I am appreciative of the time you took to respond. Most importantly my conscience compels me to challenge your justification referencing South Africa. It is opportunistic to equate the iniquity of an Apartheid regime which institutionalized racially based cruelty, with Israel’s IDF defense against unremitting terrorism while invoking the Jewish peace-seeking tenets of morality based on Mitzvot and Tikkun Olam. (I am not religious but this morality is my guiding light).
You suggest I approximate “truth” by visiting Gaza but you have to consider the source of what you hold up to be the “truth”. I exhort you to reference erudite Middle Eastern scholars, authorities on Islam such as Professor Emeritus of Princeton, the esteemed Bernard Lewis, to comprehend that Islam’s injunction to “truth” is subordinate to achieving the destruction of their enemies … at all cost. Truth is irrelevant. One has only to look at the Arabic-English translations of speeches by Arab leaders to see the antithesis of “truth”. Remember the proudly proclaimed sentiment in Durban by Arafat in Arabic? “Lying is a mitzvah if the result advances Islam”! These then are the “witnesses” on whose word you relied.
I would like to share with you the reaction of my S. African born son. Initially speaking no Hebrew, Paul took leave of absence from football teammates and college for three years to help defend Israel from Terrorism. (Last week he entered the first year of the NYU MBA program). Paul was promoted into a top “Sayeret” (combat unit) called Egoz and gained more insight than you and I have, into the minds and motives of the Terrorists he was called upon to arrest. (Incidentally he mirrors the intelligence, nature and integrity of my father Hubert whom you so respected). He speaks frequently of the inherent morality of the Israeli Defense Force. He was dumbstruck that you would issue a judgment devoid of official testimony or defense from the Israelis that you purported to “objectively” judge, and then unfairly condemned. There is no doubt that were this honest enlightened Soldier part of your UN team he would render your one-sided “findings” as baseless, and condemn the Goldstone commission as “Heresy”.
To surgically dissect and correct 500 pages of extensive condemnations would be time consuming so I will spotlight the most egregious. Pages 174 to 182 clearly show misleading documentation. You refer to Jan 15th and Israel’s attack of Palestinian terrorists using the Al Quds Hospital as a base. Israel referenced their intelligence findings as well as media. Israel’s own report had specifically cited a news report saying gunman had hijacked the hospital, seized ambulances, forced ambulance drivers and nurses to remove uniforms with paramedic symbols to blend and elude Israeli snipers etc. The Corriere Della Sera information confirms and justifies Israel’s action.
Furthermore, “intent” is a critical element of International law. The intent of Hamas is to kill all of Israel’s civilians, while Israel’s reprisals are to protect her territorial sovereignty and citizens, with minimal collateral injury to any civilians intended. (See my previous letter and refer to the Hamas Charter).
Richard, while there are people whom history will chose to bury like Ronny Kasrils and Desmond Tutu, we will always be proud of the leaders of substance born in South Africa such as Jan Christian Smuts, Abba Eban, and Nelson Mandela. But the most astounding HERO was Frederik Willem De Klerk who reversed his views of Apartheid and changed the course of South African history 180 degrees, steering it toward Democracy.
In the same way, only you can mitigate the damage inflicted by false witnesses and false accusations of “war crimes and “crimes against humanity” invoked to besmirch the integrity of a country trying to protect its citizens and I cannot reconcile that you would accept the label of “quisling” rather than Richard Goldstone the man with a Legacy of Leadership.
If you choose to remain with the UN, you could be a courageous Jewish hero swimming against the tide at that institution tainted or debilitated as it is by obsessive anti-Zionism, rather than a South African pariah among your Jewish people. You embody the qualities, the ability and influence to improve the reputation of the UN, which has reached such a low point. To regain credibility the UN needs the direction of members from stable democratic countries with lofty ideals and sage leadership to once again garner the respect of the world.
Best wishes
Barbara Press Fix
[...] vicious, vicious attacks on Goldstone from his South African Jewishcommunity at forecast highs. Don’t worry, judge, you are a great Jew, they did this kind of thing to [...]
During the years of apartheid, the racist government of South Africa enjoyed the support of the overwhelmingly majority of its Jewish community. (Reciprocally, South Africa’s Sun City was a favorite vacationing spot for Israeli Jews, some of whom had emigrated from South Africa.) When a lone rabbi spoke to his congregation against South Africa’s racist system, he was verbally attacked and marginalized. It is only because of their economic clout, that the government of Jacob Zuma and those of the ANC who preceded him, that the SA government has not branded the majority of the Jewish community of SA for what it was and evidently remains, a nest of racists. To be attacked by them is a badge of honor that Goldstone should proudly, if sadly, wear.
Thank you Judge Goldstone for your courage. Thank you for taking on what for you was probably a difficult task. Thank you for risking the hatred of many in the Jewish community who attack those who expose the crimes of Israel, crimes that they would prefer to sweep under the rug.
Thank you for giving hope to those of us in the Jewish community who have long been appalled at Israel’s brutal occupation of the the West Bank and Gaza, who stand firmly opposed to the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian lands, who believe that targeted assassinations by Israel are illegal and immoral, who believe that Israel has no interest in a just peace until it controls as much land as possible with as few Palestinians as possible on that land.
Judge Goldstone, you are a mensch and deserve to go down in history as a man of courage. Thank you.
Who cares if he is Jewish? The Arab-controlled Human Rights Council tasked half a dozen people for this investigation and no one would pick it up, not even Mary Robinson who said…”This investigation is about politics, not human rights.”
Dubiously, Goldstone the self-described “Zionist” picks up the bill and lauds himself as a strong supporter of Israel. The Arab tribes were foaming at the mouth at this point, already knowing what the verdict will be: Guilty.
IJC cleared allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan of any wrongdoings during the conflict. They’ve killed far more civilians, in much more heavy-handed approach, and do not use half the cautions Israel does.
So if Americans and British kids are safe, so are the Jews. Truly absurd how homicidal Palestinians get to boast about how horrible Israel is when the Jews literally phone Hamas hours before an attack. Who does that? The recent UN development index puts the Palestinians standard of living HIGHER THAN EGYPT!
Those who say this conflict is somehow a response to “occupation” need to go #$#@ themselves. There is more poverty in Egypt, Indonesia, and Bolivia. Pals built a casino, an airport, universities, move theaters, shopping malls, mansions in Paris and London, all while conducting endless Jihad against Israel while claiming eternal victimhood.
Most of these Pals have a martyer-dome complex. Infants dreaming about suicide bombings, children reciting poems about the evil Zionists…why should Israel deprive these monsters of their desire for paradise? The Jews have NO right to stop Pals from reaching the gates of heaven with 72 virgins…give them what they want….in the form of a nice fat Israeli JDAM.
Then there will be peace.
Anyone who read Goldstone’s conclusions at South African reconciliation commission would have known his conclusions on Gaza beforehand
How dare Goldstone accuse Israel of “disproportionate force.”
All attempts at “proportionate force” were met with continued rocket fire. So what was Israel supposed to do? Depend on South Africa to get the terrorists to stop? Simply grin and bear it?
And to compare Israel to South Africa’s apartheid policies? While no doubt there is discrimination is Israel against Israeli Arabs, anyone who knows anything about the right of Israeli Arabs (and even Palestinians) for redress in the Supreme Court in Israel knows how absurd this is.
Moreover, if one is inclined to compare the Israel (with regard to the Palestinian territories) to SA’s apartheid policies, try to imagine the SA response to a single rocket sent from Soweto to a white area. From Wikipedia, we find the South African response to mere demonstrations:
“Soweto Uprising
Soweto came to the world’s attention on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Uprising, when mass protests erupted over the government’s policy to enforce education in Afrikaner rather than English. Police opened fire in Orlando West on 10,000 students[16] marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium, and in the events that unfolded, 566 people died [17]. The impact of the Soweto protests reverberated through the country and across the world. In their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were introduced from abroad. Political activists left the country to train for guerrilla resistance. Soweto and other townships became the stage for violent state repression. Since 1991 this date and the schoolchildren have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child.”
If Israel had been ”black” and Gaza ”white’, Goldstone would have supported Israel. His actions are political. He is no longer a lawyer. He is a politician seeking office.
He did not look at all the evidence. There was not time in the few short days he was in Gaza for him to decide which aspects to look at, never mind to examine it as seriously as his conscience should have instructed him. He chose the facts he wished to consider relevant and slept through the rest.
What Richard Goldstone has done is equivalent to the brothers selling Joseph into slavery. He has sold his soul in exchange for a worthless feather in his cap. Millions of Jews around the world hear his name in disgust, I pity his soul when it goes back to his creator.
Shame on you old man for succumbing to the anti-Semitic HRC and giving credence to their ongoing venom against G-D’s Holy Land. Your family and community should be ashamed to be associated with you.
Your going right up there right next to Mr Bernard Madoff for all-time Jewish Scumbags.
Richard Goldstone is almost a prophet in his time; a man of wisdom integrity and truth. The negative and vitriolic responses to what he did in response to his conscience and duty is an indictment on those who speak against him rather than the opposite. The world is in dire need of more Richard Goldstones for it to rise from the quagmire of moral decay and twisted morality.
The Jewish people should be proud of who and what he is. History shall speak kindly of them when the name of Goldstone is mentioned. Truth when spoken disturbs in world where untruth is a norm.
i am proud of Judge Goldstone both as a south african and a human being.
to goldstone’s attention, the iranian and palestinian leaders are soaking their people in violence.
students of gandhi, deak, king should nurture decency in gaza, and not shield the hamas terror.
Useful blog post definitely a good contribution to the web.
I am not sure how good or useful is this blog post but both it and the supporting comments by Goldstone’s critics represent just the latest evidence, as if more of such garbage was needed, of the racism, Jewish chauvinism, whatever one wishes to call it, that permeates Zionism and those of its adherents, as much as Nazism contaminated those Germans who subscribed to its equally racist and noxious philosophy.