FORMER Constitutional Court judge Richard Goldstone hit out at Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein yesterday, accusing him of “making it less, and not more, possible” for Goldstone to attend his grandson’s bar mitzvah.
Goldstone said he had decided to miss the ceremony in his family’s interests after an alleged threat by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) to picket the ceremony.
Goldstone angered parts of the global Jewish community last September by accusing Israel of war crimes against the people of Gaza in a United Nations report.
In an article in yesterday’s Business Day, the chief rabbi wrote that he supported Goldstone’s attendance because of his belief in “the eternal principle of open synagogues”. But he renewed his attack on Goldstone’s report, which had “unfairly done enormous damage to the reputation and safety of the state of Israel and her citizens”.
Goldstone responded in a letter to Business Day, published today, in which he condemned the chief rabbi’s “questionable and unfortunate approach”, saying Goldstein had “brazenly politicis e(d)” a family occasion.
remainder in full:
http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=106886