I refer to the analysis piece, (Goldstone’s unjust rush job has hurt the cause of peace, October 20). Rabbi Warren Goldstein starts on the wrong foot in his attempt to defend the indefensible. As a Jewish leader, he could have served Israel better by encouraging the nation to institute an independent inquiry into the excesses of Operation Cast Lead last January.
The love for a nation should not blind us from the realities of injustice. In fact, true patriots offer criticism when something goes amiss in the conduct of their national affairs. They do not cover up or feign exercising the right to “remain silent”.
Goldstein’s attitude therefore is in stark contrast to the spirit in which Judge Richard Goldstone accepted the request from the United Nations to probe the alleged crimes of war. “As a Jew, I felt a greater and not a lesser obligation to do so,” wrote Goldstone.
Goldstone lamented Israel’s lack of co-operation with his investigating team, terming the act a “grave error” on the part of the Jewish state.
In trying to discredit the Goldstone mission, Goldstein conveniently overlooks the fact that the Goldstone report is not the first to investigate and reach the same conclusions of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the conduct of Operation Cast Lead last January.
Before Goldstone, Human Rights Watch, Breaking the Silence, Amnesty International and many other bodies had either reached similar conclusions or made calls for further investigations as those made by the Goldstone report. In Goldstein there is a man who punts even-handedness and justice. Yet, Goldstein has a disdain for a report that calls for further investigations that would result in bringing to book any perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
Goldstone undertook the probe compelled by the values of integrity and a conviction not to betray his conscience. Yet, people like Goldstein judge him as a Jew who betrayed the cause of Israel . However, it is the conduct of people such as Goldstein who betray the cause of Israel.
It is also unwitting on the part of Goldstein to cite legal pedantry of the apartheid-era SA in evaluating the Goldstone report.
The democracy that Israel claims to be is a well-known apartheid order that has legislated for discrimination in the areas of nationality, citizenship and land tenure.
Others have even suggested that to call Israel an apartheid state is an understatement. Rather, Israel exists as a peculiar entity that wraps together a military occupation, an apartheid order as well as a malignant form of colonialism.
The Goldstone report recommends that Israel and Hamas be given six months to launch their own investigation into the report’s findings. Any of the parties that fail to do so in a credible manner would face the possibility of being referred to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.
Just as the Talmudic Rabbi aptly links peace to justice, an independent investigation into the conduct of Operation Cast Lead will not only help in bringing Israel to good standing but also serve justice, a long-missing ingredient in the “peace process”.
Prof Eyal Benvenisti succinctly sums it up in Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper: “World public opinion demands of Israel a credible and transparent explanation of the combat activity in Gaza. The decision to ignore this demand is equivalent to burying the head in the sand.”
For Israel, this is an opportunity to set the record straight. It begs the imagination why the Goldstone report should be a threat to the cause of peace.
Ebrahim I Bham (Moulana)
Secretary-General: Council of Muslim Theologians