When Richard Goldstone returned home to South Africa last May for his grandsons bar mitzvah an event that he was almost unable to paticipate in because of protests planned against him he also attended a separate meeting whose details were kept secret until now.
In the wake of Goldstones bombshell retraction of a key finding in the famous report that bears his name, those aware of what occurred at that meeting, individuals who have known him through the years, felt moved to disclose what happened. They joined many others in puzzling over what had prompted the famous jurist to change his mind and, they hoped, Israels fate.
The meeting, an official parlay between Goldstone and a cross-section of 10 of the South African Jewish communitys top leaders, had a profound impact on Goldstone, said one participant and another senior official briefed on it afterward.
Debating face to face with the community really shook him, said David Saks, associate director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, who received a read-out on the meeting right after it took place. When he saw the extent of the anger and he couldnt answer the accusations against him
I think he realized he was wrong.