Steeds meer Europese joden durven hun kritiek te uiten over Israël. In Engeland heeft een lange lijst Britse joden een open brief geschreven aan premier Gordon Brown, om hem er opmerkzaam te maken dat veel Britse joden niet langer meer vanzelfsprekend en kritiekloos achter Israël staan. En dat met name het Goldstone rapport serieus genomen moet worden.

Met plezier lees ik de lange lijst namen: ik blijk veel mensen nog van vroeger te kennen. Natuurlijk staat historicus Avi Schlaim er op, maar ook Jungiaanse psycho-analyticus Andrew Samuels die ik eens interviewde, en Richard Kuper die ik kende als uitgever, en Adam Kuper, die ik weer kende als vriend van een vriend. Ik kom Lynne Reids Bank tegen, ik heb haar boeken in de kast, waar ik nu niet meer zo gelukkig mee zou zijn omdat ze nog zo pro-Israel waren – nu is ze kennelijk van mening veranderd – net als ik. En vooral ben ik gelukkig met de namen van feministes waar ik vroeger mee optrok: Susie Orbach, Susan Himmelweit, Sheila Ernst – joods dus, maar vroeger in de vrouwenbeweging hadden we het daar zelden over. Nu steken ze hun nek uit voor een andere zaak. En Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, natuurlijk, die niet van vroeger is maar van nu. Fijn om te zien. De brief hieronder. (English)

OPEN LETTER TO GORDON BROWN ON THE GOLDSTONE REPORT:
BRITISH JEWS DO NOT SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE

Dear Prime Minister,

We appreciate your Government’s stated intention to
build bridges with the Jewish community in the light of
responses to the Goldstone report. To achieve this, it is
vital for you to recognise that British Jews do not speak
with one voice on this matter.

We welcome the Goldstone Fact Finding Mission on the
Gaza conflict as a key document in the upholding of
international law in situations of violent conflict, and
regret your Government’s failure to endorse the Report
and its recommendations at the United Nations General
Assembly.

We condemn the vilification of Richard Goldstone, an
internationally acclaimed jurist who has made a
substantial contribution worldwide to the development
and maintenance of international humanitarian law, and
his distinguished co-authors.

We note that the preparation of the Report was severely
hampered by the refusal of the Israeli authorities to respond to
reasonable enquiries or to facilitate access by the mission to
Gaza or the West Bank and that it was only Egypt’s assistance
which eventually allowed the Mission to gain access to Gaza.
We further note that the Report unequivocally condemns not
just Israel’s devastation of Gaza but also Hamas’s indiscriminate
rocket attacks against Israeli neighbourhoods and does not in
any way deny Israel its right to legitimate self-defence. We fully
support its recommendation that both parties conduct full
investigations into the allegations of war crimes in the Report.
We believe Israel cannot afford, nor should it wish, to exempt
itself from the scrutiny of the international community on these
matters. We consider that it is the attempt to do so, rather than
the Goldstone Report, that is damaging Israel. We therefore urge
you to endorse the Report at the next available opportunity.

SUPPORTED BY:
INDEPENDENT JEWISH VOICES www.ijv.org.uk •
JEWS FOR JUSTICE FOR PALESTINIANS www.jfjfp.org •
JEWISH FORUM FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS www.jfjhr.org
JEWISH SOCIALISTS’ GROUP www.jewishsocialist.org.uk •
JEWISH WRITERS AGAINST THE OCCUPATION ann@barnowlbooks.com •
SCOTTISH JEWS FOR A JUST PEACE www.sjjp.org.uk
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