There are No Winners in War
Direct letters to Richard Goldstone
There were many letters sent directly to Justice Richard Goldstone - most, if not all, were ignored. If not in form, than certainly in content.
Goldstone made it clear from the start - he was not interested in the facts, merely in giving the impression that he was fair, open-minded, interested. He was none of those things when it came to Israel. He was given a task and a mandate. The mandate...and the task...all involved condemning Israel for war crimes.
Goldstone wasn't commissioned to determine if war crimes occurred during the Gaza War, but rather, what war crimes Israel had committed. He didn't investigate Hamas violations and where he referred to them, it was mere lip service.
People must be given credit for trying, just as Richard Goldstone must be condemned for his lack of interest (to the point of falling asleep during a video of Sderot's suffering!).
In the following two emails, Barbara Press Fix, someone who knows Richard Goldstone personally, attempted to reason with him. He answered her and, out of respect for him, she chose not to make his response public. Her second letter expresses her appreciation that he took the time to respond, and her dissatisfaction with his response. We will attempt to publish more of these in the future but for now, this one shows that Richard Goldstone ignored on a professional - and a personal - level, all attempts to show him that he was following the wrong path.
First Letter to Richard Goldstone
EMAIL FROM AN OLD FRIEND
To: Judge Richard Goldstone
From: Barbara Press
Subject: Hello Richard... It's been a while...
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 housands 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 want 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
Second Letter to Richard Goldstone
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