A message to Uncle Tom

Open letter to Judge Goldstone.

Who is Goldstone? Or perhaps we should ask: What is Goldstone?

I am a Holocaust survivor, therefore I cannot help but regard all events that effect my country, Israel, from the point of view of a Holocaust survivor. Many of us after our liberation came here to fight in the War of Independence and help re-establish the state of Israel.

Those of us who survived the wars, established families brought children and grand children to the world and today our grand children in whose hands we leave the safety of this country and the safety of each individual, may be accused by you of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Our grand children, who bodily stand between the Hamas terrorist of Gaza and hundreds of millions of Islamic fanatics who openly declare to the whole world that they will and must destroy us are being accused by you, Mr. Goldstone of crime against Humanity . And what were their war crimes? And how else were they going to ferret out each Hamas terrorist hiding behind the women and children? The same terrorists who were shooting off rockets into Israel for eight bloody years? And why did Israel wait eight years to start with, while every country in the world would have sent in their armies after the first rockets hit their towns?

We waited because we knew that if we go into Gaza trying to ferret out the rocket attackers, a Mr. Goldstone would appear with his lofty sickening biased morality and declare our grand children war criminals! We finally had to send them in because larger and larger rockets were arriving from Iran and a million Israelis were threatened by these rockets. That was not only unacceptable, but also intolerable. What would you have us do Mr. Goldstone? How were we going to defend our towns against these attacks? If by your definition our grand children are war criminals what are the Americans, the British and all the NATO forces who mercilessly bombarded Afghanistan killing thousands of civilians, the Americans and British in Iraq, the Russians who did the same in Chenchnya? I would agree to be called a war criminal if we simply sent in our planes and bombarded Gaza into the Stone Age like the Americans did in Afghanistan. But we did not do it, Mr. Goldstone. Instead we sent in our grand children to be killed by the Hamas terrorist in order to avoid reducing Gaza to rubble.

And for this our grand children are war criminals?

I was in Dachau, Mr. Goldstone, when five hundred American plans would fly over our heads almost daily and drop thousands of bombs on Munich's civilian population reducing the town to rubble and killing thousands of civilians. At the end of the war the British dropped thousands of incendiary bombs on Dresden killing hundreds of thousands civilians. The war was over, still they did it. Perhaps you should call all those war criminals before you so blatantly accuse us?

I know it is much easier to accuse the Jews than the Americans, or the British or the Russians, although by your definition they are the real war criminals. No, Mr. Goldstone, war is not a nice thing, but if you want to stay alive, we Jews have learned by experience, that unless we defend ourselves, no one else will defend us. What really we find despicable of you is that you as a Jew accepted to participate in a committee that a priori condemned us. Your feeble excuse is that the UN only gave you a mandate to investigate Israel's war crimes in Gaza!
By accepting your role on this committee you declared yourself the enemy of Israel. I think that you would very few Israelis who wouldn't agree with me.

Mr. Goldstone, condemning Israel is as if you would condemn the British and the French for starting World War Two, after all it was France and Britain who declared war on Germany. And ignoring the fact the Germans attacked Poland first!

As far as I am concerned, as a survivor, You, Mr. Goldstone are doing a selection (like in the good old days) singling out Israel, a small country trying to survive the constant onslaught of millions of Arabs.

You picked us as a convenient target when by your definition of war crimes your true target should have been America, Russia, NATO forces who sent in heavy bombers to drop thousands of bombs on civilian targets, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya, Belgrade and hundreds of other places around the world. If we should follow your dictate the world has no right to defend itself against terrorism, as terrorism deliberately hides itself behind women and children and innocent civilians, if we do we are to be classified as war criminals?

Mr. Goldstone, it was from Gaza that the rockets came bombarding Israeli towns for eight years, and it is a fact that the Palestinians voted Hamas into power. They started the war. Those who start a war should be blamed before those who defend themselves are blamed. You chose to ignore that fact.

All I can add is that as a judge, you are bigoted like the rest of the UN institutions, and as a Jew, shame on you.

Shana Tova

Sincerely yours,
Solly Ganor