Goldstone krijgt erkenning van US-Joods tijdschrift

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Meer mensen zouden hun monden open moeten doen. Misschien ook eens wat
Amsterdammers?

Groet / Cees

Last update - 13:02 23/04/2010  	 	 	
U.S. Jewish magazine honors Goldstone for 'upholding Jewish values'
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news

The U.S.-based Jewish progressive magazine Tikkun has opted to give its
annual prize to Judge Richard Goldstone for upholding what the
publication called the "best ethical" Jewish values.

Goldstone was the author of a damning United Nations report which
accused Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip during its
three-week war with Hamas in late 2008 and early 2009.

In a statement released on Friday, editor Rabbi Michael Lerner said
Goldstone had been chosen as this year's recipient of the Tikkun Award
because "the peace community both in Israel and around the world see
Justice Goldstone as upholding the best ethical values of the Jewish
community."

Lerner also voiced "outrage" at what he called "the treatment
[Goldstone] has received" by the Jewish community, making a direct
reference to a recent report claiming that a pro-Israel group banned
Goldstone from participating in his grandson's bar mitzvah in South
Africa over his Gaza report.

"The banning of him from his own grandson's bar mitzvah in South Africa,
led us at Tikkun to invite him to do his grandson's bar mitzvah here in
the United States where many Jews would honor him," Lerner said, adding
that Goldstone "was delighted with the invite, but said it was too late."

Then, Lerner said in his statement, Tikkun had "decided to award Judge
Goldstone the annual Tikkun Award at the celebration of our 25th
Anniversary in the Spring of 2011."

Past recipients of the award, Lerner indicated, have included "Abba
Eban, Allen Ginsberg, Irving Howe, Alred Kazin, Letty Cottin Pogrebin,
Marion Wright Edelman, Yehuda Amichai, Senator Paul Wellstone, and James
Hillman."

In the statement, the Tikkun editor said that for those of us in the
Jewish community who recognize that Israel's treatment of Palestinians
and its overt violations of human rights are not only a rejection of
traditional Jewish values, but are also dangerous both to the survival
of the State of Israel and to the future safety of the Jewish people
living all around the world."

Referring to Israel's lack of cooperation with Goldstone's fact-finding
mission, Lerner said that the South African former jurist "made clear
that his charges were not substantiated, that had Israel been willing to
cooperate with his UN sponsored investigation they might well have
helped him eliminate elements of the report that were not true according
to Israeli information."

"As many of us in the peace community noted, the charges could easily
have been responded to by Israel taking the stance that these acts were
not part of its policy, that they regretted them and intended to take
steps to make sure that things of this sort would never happen again,
and that it would hold accountable and punish those engaged in or giving
orders for or collaborating with human rights violations," Lerner added.

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********