Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report

The following open letter (Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report) was initiated by Jews Say No! and signed by hundreds of individuals and organizations worldwide. The letter was also sent to Justice Goldstone. Click here to sign onto the letter.

Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report

The primary author of the recently released UN Report on Gaza, the internationally respected jurist Richard Goldstone, has been attacked by establishment voices within the Jewish community. When those within a community try to “excommunicate” and dishonor truth-tellers, it is our obligation and responsibility to speak out vehemently on their behalf and on behalf of the truth they bring.

By all accounts, Judge Goldstone, who has a deep connection to Israel, approached his task with no pre-conceptions about what he and his team would find as they investigated the circumstances and aftermath of the Israeli attack on Gaza. Goldstone is a former South African constitutional law court judge who also served as a prosecutor of the Yugoslav and Rwandan war crimes tribunals. His credentials for this task are impeccable.

For following where the truth led him and releasing a report detailing human rights abuses and violations of international law by Israel, as well as by Hamas, Judge Goldstone should be applauded for his honesty and integrity. Instead, he and the report have been viciously and relentlessly attacked by many within the Jewish community.
When it comes to Israel, hard-core censorship and intimidation by those claiming to speak in the name of the Jewish people have been the order of the day. Our saying, “Three Jews — four opinions,” reflects the traditional Jewish encouragement to argue and debate. However, the reality, sadly, is that diverse opinions are welcome — except when it comes to Israel.

We must hold the Israeli government and the Jewish establishment accountable for attempting to vilify a truth-teller and for suppressing the truth about Israeli government crimes against the Palestinian people. We call upon each and every one of us to speak out at every opportunity — at our community centers and synagogues, in our homes, in the street, wherever we go.

We must demand that the truth be heard and that those claiming to speak in our name stop manipulating truths that have been well-documented for years, long before the Goldstone report. We are also appalled by the Obama Administration’s reaction to the report. We call for a fair and impartial investigation of the report’s allegations by non-military institutions in Israel. Failing that, we call for an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Let us begin the New Year in the pursuit of justice.

Signatories:

Jews Say No:
Nicholas Abramson
Elly Bulkin
Nina Felshin
Sherry Gorelick
Jane Hirschmann
Carol Horwitz
Abigail Levine
Alan Levine
Helaine Meisler
Gail Miller
Carol Munter
Donna Nevel
Ray Wofsy
Dorothy Zellner

Additional Signatories:

Judy Rebick, Canada
Renate Bridenthal
Rabbi Brian Walt
Liz Magnes
Philippe Levy, Switzerland
David Stea, Mexico
Michael Ratner
Esther Kaplan
Wallace Shawn
Howard Zinn
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Gillian Slovo, UK
Rabbi Brant Rosen
Tony Judt
Miriam Margolyes
Marilyn Neimark
Alisa Solomon
Michelle Fine
Joan Nestle
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Vera John-Steiner
Daniel Lang/Levitsky
Ellen Cantarow
Jeremy Pikser
Rabbi Michael Feinberg
Jochi Weil-Goldstein, Switzerland
Hannah Schwarzschild
Ted Auerbach
Joel Beinin
Dror Feller
Barbara Harvey
Judith Norman
Michael and Debby Smith
Philip Weiss
Perrine Olff-Rastegar
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
Morris Meyers
Melinda Smith
Gideon Spiro
Judith Deutsch
Eleanor Stein
Sheila Slater
Carol and Larry Kaplan
Helen Seitz
Carolyn Eisenberg
Elise Engler
Racheli Gai
James Petras
Hannah Mermelstein
Jane Toby
David Grinstein
Esther Cohen
Max Ajl
Mary P. Buchwald
Naomi Allen
Stephen S. Farha
Annette Herskovits
Claire Mialhe
Victor Kozaski
Jerry Geffner
Marlena Santoyo
Cynthia Greenberg
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Paola Cannaruto
Ann Cook
Bree Herndon
Eugene Straus
Donna Nager
Lev Moscow
Penny Rosenwasser
Richard Congress
Helen Schiff
Sue Rosenberg
William Rothberg
Laura Kogel
Ann Sirotof Winfield
Eldad Benary
Rabbi Susan Einbinder
Judith I. Rosenbaum
Doris Soroko
Jenny Heinz
George Salzman
Yoram Gelman
Larry Cooper
Annelien Kisch-Kroon
Jon Moscow
Carol Weinshenker
Susan Landau
Karen Batiyov
Sara Norman
Howard Horowitz
Ellen Brotsky
Michael Berg
Cindy Shamban
Francine Less
Bart Meyers
Laura Myerson
Paula Silbey
Martha Wallner
Anna Baltzer
Howard Pflanzer
Ruth Clark
Elsa First
Barbara Barefield
Stephanie Rugoff
Bud and Francine Korotzer
Peter Melvyn
Miriam Adams
Karen Platt
Lauren Langman
Assaf Bondy
Louis Hirsch
Gary L. Anderson
Bette Jones
Henry Norr
Terry Weber
Eleanor J. Bader
Richard I. Wark
Gina Morantz-Sanchez
Juliette Galant
Shelley Cohen Fudge
Juliet Wittman
Leslie Lomas
James Traub
Wendy Greenfield
Bilha Sundermann, Israel
Susan Metz
Richard Blum
Michael Locker
Harriet Malinowitz
Zachary Sklar
Abby Yanow
Sallie Latch, Mexico
Joseph Levine
Mindy Gershon
Judy Rosenblum
Miko Peled
Talma Bar-Din, Israel
Edward S. Davidson
Shahar Hlinovsky
Laurie White
Ellen Gruber Garvey
Evan Giller
Ed Goldman
Ron and Rebecca Pollack
Ronit Lentin, Ireland
Amos Gvirtz, Israel
Don Greenspon
Rich Siegel
Cathy Gulkin
Dorothy Naor, Israel
Ellen Schwarz Wasfi
Adi Dagan, Israel
Albert Ruben
Steve Kowit
Sonya Ostrom
Ben Saifer, Canada
John Menzies
Lesley Levy
Ednna Glukman, Israel
Arthur Milner, Canada
Mira Khazzam, Canada
Zohar Atai, Israel
George Sorger
Leslie Lomas
Marion Pollack, Canada
Kate P. Katzenstein-Leiterer, Germany
Georgia Kingsley Guida
Asa Zatz
Natalie Polonsky LaRoche
Vicky Steinitz
Leslie M. Canges
Susanne Moses, Israel
Norma Glad
Pnina Feiler, Israel
Emmaia Gelman
Elliot G. Mishler
Carl Rosenberg, Canada
Daniel Strum
Bruce Katz
Marty Roth, Canada
Joan Pleune
Tessa Parzenczewski
Murray Bernstein
Marcia Bernstein
Sibylle Elam, Switzerland
Mark Golden
Gil Medovoy
Amy Medovoy
Mimi Rosenberg
Greg Starr, Canada
Keith Hyams
Jean Gore
Tova Perlmutter
Audrey Bomse
André W. Payant, Canada
Fred Schloessinger
David Kirshbaum
Evelyn Hutt
Sid Shniad
Abe Rosner, Canada
Ethel Tobach
Yana Knopova, Israel
Itamar Shachar, Netherlands
Kay Halpern
Lila Braine
Emily Ratner
Claudia Leight
Brenda S. Engel
Shaina Adams
Frederick M. Rosen
John Copoulos
Yehoshua Rosin, Israel
Miriam Thompson
Anna Miransky
Shelley Cohen Fudge
Samuel Wiener-Barraud, Switzerland
Dr. E. J. Tivona
Jeffrey Haas
Josh Ruebner
Yosef Khen
Amy Rosenberg
Alexander and Sonia Alland
Caroline and Nathan Finkelstein, Switzerland
Iris Hefets
Lawrence Davidson
Norah Orlow, Israel
Helen Evelev
Jason Kunin, Canada
Batja and Chanan Guggenheim-Ami, Switzerland
Dr. Edward H. Shaffer, Canada
Sarah Howard
Roz Doctorow
Alice Sturm Sutter
Lawrence Rich
Jeff Warner
Dick Platkin
Lillian Laskin
Paul Waller
Joan Waller
Rich Chertoff
Pat Warner
Avril Orloff, Canada
Michael Hanna-Fein
Yom Shamash
Samuel Welber, Austria
Norman Epstein
Irving Greenbaum
Joanna Zilsel
Michael Myerson
Yali Amit
Barbara Kamholz
Uri Shani
Eleanor Wesley
Dr. David Wesley
Paul Saginaw
Ruth Kraut
Alain Jehlen
Eric Shtob
Jean M. Entine
Janet E. Harris
Jessie Cagan
Micki Ezri Longum, Lektor, Norway
Diane Jordan Wexler
Marian Blanton
Michael Rosen
Peg Rapp
Sandra Ruch
Steward Robinson
Steve Schnapp
Gordon Doctorow
Richard Silverstein
Bruce Robbins
Judith Berlowitz
Barbara A. Rosen
Martha Roth
Sylvia and Bill Powers
Elizabeth Mulford
Heike Schotten
Peggy Bell
Laurel Long
Marge Sussman
Deborah Eisenberg
Ellen Koesten, Austria
Shelley Berlowitz, Switzerland
Fred Hirsch
Darrell Legge, Canada
Raeda Bandak
Paula Abrams-Hourani
Susan Nathan, Israel
Alice Kish
Sallye Steiner Bowyer
Dina Pomeranz
Lee Anne Block , Canada
Ana Ratner
Anne Rosenzweig
Amy Gottlieb
Rebekah Wolf
Michael Slaughter
Judy Haiven, Canada
Samuel Asher
Judith Laitman
Michael Golstein, Australia
Ami Dayan
Richard Kuper, Great Britain
H. Susan Freirich
Berenice Fisher
Earl Choldin, Canada
Mark Robert Brill, Canada
Branka Goldstein, Switzerland
Hannah Vorburger-Simhai, Switzerland
Darlen Wallach
Esther Blumenthal-Sheats
Miriam Victory Spiegel, Zürich, Switzerland
Neta Golan
Josie Lenwell
Miriam Garfinkle
Shmiel Mordche Borreman
B.H. Yael, Canada
Vera Szoke
Abe Hayeem, London, UK
Roamine Hayeem, London, UK
Gene Tishauer, Canada
Stewart M. Robinson
Julius Gordon
Daniel Pines
Elizabeth Block, Canada
Iris Keltz
Melanie LaBorwit
Stan Handmaker
Jake Javanshir, Canada
Richard Lee Deaton
Hannah Braun
Evelyn Haas
Neil Hertz
Guy Bollag, Switzerland
Peter Orris
Guenter Schenk, France
Albert Rosenblatt