An Israeli attorney has demanded that Hebrew University consider removing Judge Richard Goldstone from the Board of Governors and withdraw an honorary degree because of his report to the United Nations alleging that the IDF committed war crimes fighting Hamas terror.
The lawyer, David Schoenberg, told Arutz 7 that lower-level officials at the university have given him bureaucratic answers that there is no mechanism to fulfill his request. He wrote to Hebrew University President Prof. Menachem Ben-Sasson, demanding a direct reply.
Goldstone, whom President Shimon Peres has called “a small man, devoid of any sense of justice,” chastised Israel for allegedly breaking the rules of war after the Operation Cast Lead retaliation to thousands of deadly rocket and mortar shell attacks on southern Israel. Alan Dershowitz of the Harvard Law School called Goldstone "a traitor to the Jewish people."
Worldwide Jewish anger was so intense that Judge Goldstone had canceled plans to fly to his native South Africa for his grandson’s Bar Mitzvah because of the threat of protests by local Jews. One South African rabbi said that many members of the Jewish community “believe he put Israel in danger" and they wouldn't like him receiving the honor of being called up for the reading of the Torah during prayers at the Bar Mitzvah ceremony.
An agreement was worked out this week with the South African Jewish Board of Deputies that cleared the way for Goldstone to attend. There will be no protests, but a meeting will be held between him and Jewish leaders “shortly after” the Bar Mitzvah.
Attorney Schoenberg explained that his appeal to the university followed his discovery that Goldstone was named as a governor several years ago, after he was promoted to the position of judge.
“After studying his report [on alleged war crimes], I think his position of honor should be reconsidered,” Schoenberg told Arutz 7. “This is a man who succeeded in causing grave damage to the State of Israel on the basis of twisted descriptions of reality.”
Besides having received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew University, Judge Goldstone was awarded similar honors at the universities of Cape Town, Notre Dame, Maryland, Glasgow, Calgary, Princeton, Brandeis, and the Brooklyn Law School, among others.