Goldstone gets 'Annual Tikkun Award' for upholding best ethical values of Jewish community

 The American magazine Tikkun, issued by the progressive community of the same name led by rabbi Michael Lerner in the Bay Area, has invited judge Richard Goldstone to celebrate his grandson's bar mitzva in Califonia. In a statement released on Friday, rabbi  Lerner said: 

  We in the peace community both in Israel and around the world see  Justice Goldstone as upholding the best ethical values of the Jewish  community, so we are outraged at the treatment he has received. The most  recent, the banning of him from his own grandson's Bar Mitzvah in South  Africa, led us at Tikkun to invite him to do his grandson's Bar  Mitzvah here in the United States where many Jews would honor him. He  was delighted with the invite, but said it was too late. So we have  decided to award Judge Goldstone the annual Tikkun Award at the  celebration of our 25th Anniversary in the Spring of 2011. Other  recipients who appeared at previous conferences include Abba Eban, Allen  Ginsberg, Irving Howe, Alred Kazin, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Marion  Wright Edelman, Yehuda Amichai, Senator Paul Wellstone, and James  Hillman.

Lerner also pointed out that Goldstone gave ample room to Israel to cooperate with his investigation and that his report was no more than an invitation to the Israelis to start their own investigation.

For those of us in the Jewish community who recognize that  Israel's treatment of Palestinians and its overt violations of human  rights are not only a rejection of traditional Jewish values, but are  also dangerous both to the survival of the State of Israel and to the  future safety of the Jewish people living all around the world, the  pressure put by Judge Goldstone on Israel to clear its name was a  welcome breath of fresh air, the declaration said.