Goldstone Defends Report Before Rabbis Groups

I am so proud of these Jewish rabbis! They are unafraid of this strange thing called self-examination, confession, and commitment to a different future. Maybe they cannot get the Jewish holy days out of their heads and hearts? So it is strange that this secular Jewish judge is now the champion of spiritual rabbis who have the courage to love the world, love Jews, love even Israel, with one hand, and love justice and repentance with the other hand. They actually believe in a God that they must answer to, while the establishment organizations, including the rabbinic ones, cannot look in the mirror, and are numb to the pain of their enemies.

The reality today is of millions of spiritual Muslims, Jews and Christians, who are orphaned by their religious establishments. It is understandable. Most people sacralize states that they are attached to, that they worship as the source of their lives and safety. They do not see it as idolatry. But just as surely as Christians in Europe learned the hard way that religion is corrupted by the state, I look forward to the day when Jews and Muslims, en masse, come to the same conclusion. On that day we will see a new Middle East, a much more nonviolent Middle East, and I believe a renewed Abrahamic civilization across the region. This is the way that Israel and its neighbors will ultimately coexist.

An excerpt from Richard Silverstein’s article:

…there is an indisputable prophetic call for universal human rights, not just rights for Jews.  As an eminent jurist, Goldstone, if forced to choose, indicated that he would always choose universal rights and the call for justice for all, not just Jews.  In this day and age, I think we must follow the good judge’s example.  Any ideological movement that calls for us to betray our commitment to international law and human rights in favor of a tribal loyalty to our own (and often the worst among our own as represented by the settlers and IDF perpetrators of mayhem) is asking too much.  Goldstone believes in effect, that to be a good Jew he must be true to this Jewish prophetic calling.

Read the rest of this article at Richard Silverstein’s blog, Tikun Olam.