Judge Richard Goldstone Sent Dozens Of Black South Africans To Be Hanged

The following is my translation of the original article that appeared online in Hebrew on Ynetnews

There is more coverage of the story on

• YnetNews: Judge Goldstone's dark past
• Jerusalem Post: 'Goldstone sent 28 SA blacks to death'
• Jerusalem Central: Goldstone Sent Tens of Blacks to Their Deaths in South Africa
• Media Backspin: Who Is Goldstone To Judge Israel?
• Ruminations: Hanging Judge
• The Muqata: Goldstone was apartheid judge who executed 28 blacks, receives Tikkun Award

Here is my translation of the Hebrew article:

Goldstone Sent Dozens Of Blacks To Be Hanged

The dark past of Judge Richard Goldstone from the days of Apartheid in South Africa has been revealed. It turns out that the author of the report that accused Israel of war crimes and human rights violations in "Operation Cast Lead” enforced racist laws while serving as a judge in the 80's and 90's, imposed floggings and sentenced 28 Blacks to death. The judge responded: "I was part of the system"


The man who wrote the critical report accusing Israel of war crimes during “Operation Cast Lead” is the same man who was a judge in the Court of Appeals in South Africa during Apartheid, enforced racist laws, decreed punishment by floggings and sentenced dozens of Blacks to be hanged--so reported the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth this morning..

Justice Richard Goldstone, who was appointed to investigate the alleged "war crimes" of the IDF and the alleged human rights violations committed by Israel, previously sentenced to death no less than 28 black defendants that appealed their murder conviction. Although Goldstone has criticized countries that allow executions of defendants, while serving as a judge in South Africa in the 80's and 90's he actually expressed support for this policy. In one of his judgments, the judge wrote that "the gallows is the only punishment that can deter murderers."

Furthermore, Goldstone also sentenced four Black defendants, convicted of violent crimes, to be flogged, a punishment that has disappeared in civilized countries. Goldstone argues in response that he had always been against giving the death penalty, but that during the Apartheid era had to respect the laws of the state, and stated that he never discriminated against accused Blacks, even though at times he was forced to enforce laws that he was morally opposed to. "I was always committed to maintaining equality and non-discrimination as well as the law," Goldstone said. "Sometimes those two principles collided in very complex ways."

Compared with the many serious penalties that Goldstone imposed on South African Blacks, he actually decided to acquit four police officers who broke into the home of a white woman on the suspicion she was having sex with a Black man--an act that was then considered a serious crime in South Africa. Does this sound like non-discrimination to you?

Now, will we hear an open and honest discussion of this in the mainstream media?

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