Vicious, vicious, vicious attacks on Goldstone from his South African Jewish community at forecast highs. Don’t worry, judge, you are a great Jew, they did this kind of thing to Spinoza.
This Yom Kippur, had Judge Richard Goldstone asked for forgiveness, which he didn’t, [how do you know what he did on Yom Kippur, you spiritual thug?] he would have found that even the most virtuous members of his old community [oh now you can sort out the virtuous?] 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.
Exalted us, more like, from the persecution that is Gaza, persecution that Goldstone called persecution. Now read the dripping irony and viciousness in Barbara Press’s comment:
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. [now she is using Judge's wife against him, Noleen]
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…
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.
[thanks to Bruce Wolman!]
A veritable verbal Night Of The Longtongues, er, I mean Night Of The Longknives.
Goldstone can join Jimmy Carter and the Elders, all martyrs for peace.
Carter, too, has been reviled by his own, excommunicated from the Zionist-controlled Democratic Party.
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew, Ch. 5
I assume you all saw the interview with Fareed Zakaria:
One set with Roger Cohen and two others that I didn’t know, on Iran.
And a one-on-one interview with Judge Goldstone.
Judge Goldstone was impressive, not malicious in the slightest. When asked how the Gaza events compared to say Yugoslavia or Rwanda, he replied that the situations were not of the same scale. When asked about the parallel to apartheid, he stated that he found the parallel to be innaccurate (“I don’t like that comparison”). When asked whether he was hopeful. He stated “Largely because of excellent leadership, every South African can be hopeful”.
As Phil asked, dismissively “where is the Palestinian Gandhi, Mandela”?
You do know that Mandela was in prison for a quarter century because he refused to renounce violence?
Good point. And if one examines the details of the anti-apartheid struggle, they ain’t pretty. The ANC and Buthelezi’s Inkatha movement had a virtual civil war going on in the townships, with gruesome atrocities on both sides. It turned out that Inkatha was secretly supported by the apartheid regime. Something like the way the PA is supported by Israel and the US.
The ANC also tortured prisoners it held in camps in Namibia, if I recall correctly.
Witty probably wants to imagine that South Africa’s apartheid fell to a bunch of nonviolent protestors singing hymns. I’d like it if that were true. The reality was messy. The aftermath is also messy (high crime rates, continuing poverty) and Mandela arguably made some concessions to neoliberalism that he shouldn’t have made.
So he doesn’t like the comparison? So what? The comparison to apartheid is accurate in many ways and others who might know more about apartheid than a South African white man think the comparison is accurate–Desmond Tutu for one.
You have two sets of laws for two people sharing the same land–one group is favored and has roads devoted to its needs, while the others are the inferior. That’s apartheid by any normal standard.
As for scale, he’s right. Rwanda was maybe 800,000 dead and Yugoslavia–well the numbers vary, some saying tens of thousands while the mainstream claims 200,000 or more, but either way it was much larger than Gaza 2009. Personally I don’t like the way some on the left fling the term “genocide” around on this question. “Ethnic cleansing” is accurate and “apartheid” is reasonably accurate (one can always quibble about analogies, since no two situations are ever exactly the same), but “genocide” in common everyday language implies a large fraction of the population is killed off in deliberate fashion. Israel has aided genocidal governments (Guatemala for one, which the US also assisted), but its own actions don’t rise to that level. Not yet, anyway. They are common variety war criminals.
The leadership question is a valid one, perhaps–the leaders on the Palestinian side are not people one can be enthusiastic about. In that they remind me of the war criminals on the Israeli side, except that the Israeli criminals have been successful.
But then, Richard, we all know that Israelis have little or no moral agency–it’s up to the Palestinians to produce a leader with real moral standing, not to Israel, which is helplessly condemned to be an oppressive government with racist practices until the Palestinians produce a leader you can approve of.
Which leaders of resistance movements compare favourably?
I think people in the west have a romantic view of resistance movements probably because their experience of occupation is from the other side of the equation. Racism, dehumanisation, torture, starvation, violence and humiliation do not make pretty heroes. That takes at least three generations after freedom has been attained. It takes a couple of generations to simply throw off the dehumanisation of self under occupation.
Personally, I find the Palestinian resistance very impressive. They can say things like one state and shared citizenship and many are even able to view their occupiers with understanding. When you compare with resistance movements in India where British women and children were slaughtered, thats a massive difference. And I doubt there was ever a feeling of wanting to share space [though that may be because of the lack of state for the Israeli occupiers, since they are a religious rather than a nationalist group]. But to my mind, its akin to marrying your rapist to keep the peace [no offence intended].
So I am surprised by western notions that of a poor Palestinian movement. Education has an impact necessarily [as it did with Gandhi and Nehru] but its still surprising to hear the opinions. Especially when Israeli history itself has the Stern ganag and Irgun as their “heroes”.
Mandela uniquely, heartfully, pragmatically, make CONTACT with his enemies for the purpose of mutual reconciliation.
Hamas did the oppossite. Once contact was made with Israel, they did everything they could to prevent negotiation.
I think Goldstone is critical of Israeli leadership as not up to South African transitional standards. Most of that leadership was Mandela. A source of hope.
Until Palestine has genuine moral leadership there will objectively be no possibility of change. It has nothing to do with “approval”.
Conflicts continue unless leadership mutually (key word) communicate to each other, enough already.
I think “segregation” might be at least as accurate as “apartheid” and mean more to Americans.
Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Ed, Chris Matthews etc ssshhhh not a word not a whisper about the Goldstone report..not a word