Sanhedrin to UN: Goldstone Will Bring Judgment Upon You

Israel National News (Link) - Hillel Fendel (November 2, 2009)

The Sanhedrin has warned the UN General Assembly not to hold a plenum debate this Wednesday on the anti-Israel Goldstone Report.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the UN's member states, the Sanhedrin warns that continued consideration of what it calls the "hostile, fallacious, and malicious" Goldstone document will bring upon the world the catastrophic events described in the Bible's Book of Joel, Chapter 4.

The Goldstone commission found Israel guilty of committing war crimes during its anti-terror Cast Lead offensive in Gaza early this year. Many in Israel feel that the commission's purpose was to categorize Israel's attempt to fight the same terrorist threat that threatens the entire world as "war crimes."

The Sanhedrin is an initiative of recent years to recreate the traditional supreme legal tribunal in Judaism.

The letter reminds the UN that when it was decided in Geneva two weeks ago to have its Security Council discuss and approve the Goldstone Report, "we sent you a copy of the injunction issued by the Sanhedrin�s Court that prohibits any of the UN institutions from deliberating on this matter."

The Sanhedrin then explained by what authority it issues injunctions to the United Nations: "The International Court of the Sanhedrin operates by the power of the Bible, the only Holy Writ whose essence was handed over to mankind at Mt. Sinai [the Torah], and of the Prophets, sent to all nations of the world and universally held in respect by them. By virtue of this delegated authority, passed down from one generation to the next ever since the time of Moses our teacher, the master of all of prophets, and by virtue of the succession of authority in Jewish tradition, we appealed to you that you might not fail and thus fail the world, bringing upon it catastrophe."

The letter states that the Goldstone Report is an "attack on the State of Israel, and thus an attack on the Jewish People, in order to try to remove it from the stage of history by an unprecedented shedding of blood - tacitly encouraging Iran and those like it to continue to develop weapons of mass destruction while the rest of the world sits by and looks on... We are convinced that the continued discussion of this report, which is lacking all moral basis, will lead the nations of the world, and all of mankind, to the judgment that will take place in Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshafat, as written in the Prophets and Torah of Israel."

Joel 4 is then cited:

"I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshafat; and I will enter into judgment with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided My land... And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the children of the Jevanim, in order to distance them from their border. Behold I will arouse them from the place where you sold them, and I will return your retribution upon your head. And I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the children of Judah... Announce this among the nations: Prepare war, arouse the mighty men... Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears... Gather and come, all you nations from around - and they shall gather; there the Lord shall break your mighty men... for their evil is great...

"And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem He shall give forth His voice, and the heavens and earth shall quake, and the Lord is a shelter to His people and a stronghold for the children of Israel. And you shall know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in Zion, My holy mount, and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall no longer pass through there.... And Egypt shall become desolate, and Edom shall be a desert waste, because of the violence done to the children of Judah, because they shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall remain forever, and Jerusalem throughout all generations."

The Sanhedrin suggests that instead of considering the one-sided report, "you should establish an investigative committee agreed upon by the Jewish people and the Government of Israel, to investigate the background to the outbreak of Operation Cast Lead and the UN�s contribution to its outbreak, together with additional factors... This could be your blessed initiative, accepting upon yourself and your organization the original spirit that formed its basis: to establish peace in the world acting for the King of the universe."

The Sanhedrin concludes by advising that the verse from the Prophet Isaiah - �Let them beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and they shall not learn war anymore�- that is engraved on the United Nations wall "will never be realized via the Goldstone Report and the traditional policy of the UN regarding the State of Israel. [Instead,] your welcome action [as advised above] is anxiously awaited by all mankind. You have the power to help contribute to the prevention of wars."

The letter is signed by Rabbi Dov Stein, Secretary of the Sanhedrin, and Rabbi Prof. Hillel Weiss, spokesman.