Goldstone "just followed orders" and upheld death sentences for 28 blacks under Apartheid

Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, led Thursday with an advance story to its weekend edition by its top investigative reporter, Tzadok Yechezkeli, revealing that while an appeals court judge during the Apartheid regime in South Africa, Richard Goldstone sentenced tens of blacks to death sentences, beatings, and enforced racial laws. Goldstone justified his action: "Those were the laws, and I had to respect them".

In the advance story, headlined "Look Who's Talking," Yechezkeli and Techiyeh Barak write that Goldstone forgot one thing before preparing his condemnatory report on Israel's supposed human rights violation in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9: "to look very closely in the mirror and to do intensive soul-searching (heshbon nefesh) before he rushes to judge others".

In the full story to come out on Friday, it will be reported that while a judge in the South African Court of Appeals, Goldstone sent dozens of blacks to their death. They point out that while this hasn't stopped Goldstone from severely criticizing the death penalty and those countries that continue to permit it, he has himself never expressed any regret for his actions.

According to Yediot's findings, Goldstone confirmed the death sentences of at least 28 accused blacks, who had appealed their sentences, most of them for murder, and expressed his support for death sentences, in one case writing: "The death penalty needs to reflect the demands of society to take retribution for the crimes that people see, justifiably, as horrifying". Goldstone, "declared that the gallows were the only punishment of deterrent in these cases", and wrote: "Fury is a relevant factor in the imposition of a suitable punishment".

The article notes that Goldstone also supported Apartheid policies in other decisions where the death sentence was not involved, among them: "He confirmed a punishment of flogging for 4 blacks who were charged with violence, and acquitted 4 policemen who broke into the house of a white woman who was suspected of having sexual relations with a black man - which was considered then to be a severe crime in South Africa".

Goldstone's response to the findings: "I always opposed the death penalty, but I was part of a system that had the death penalty". According to the article, "He also claimed that as a judge during the Apartheid, he had to respect the laws of the country, and could not find enough alleviating circumstances by which to save those accused who were brought before him from the death penalty. Goldstone said that he never discriminated against blacks and did the best he could to act with fairness, even though he was forced to enforce laws that he objected to morally".

Yes, he was just following orders.