Judge Goldstone - Getting Feathers Back in the Pillow

Judge Goldstone issued a partial retraction to his infamous report.  Included in his retraction:

Some have suggested that it was absurd to expect Hamas, an organization that has a policy to destroy the state of Israel, to investigate what we said were serious war crimes. It was my hope, even if unrealistic, that Hamas would do so, especially if Israel conducted its own investigations. At minimum I hoped that in the face of a clear finding that its members were committing serious war crimes, Hamas would curtail its attacks. Sadly, that has not been the case. Hundreds more rockets and mortar rounds have been directed at civilian targets in southern Israel. That comparatively few Israelis have been killed by the unlawful rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza in no way minimizes the criminality. The U.N. Human Rights Council should condemn these heinous acts in the strongest terms.

Anyone who had a Hava Amina that Hamas would curtail its attacks is living in a fantasy world, which is exactly where the original report's findings reside.

But I must give credit to him for his attrition and at least partially admitting his errors. Just last week, I translated Eli Yishai's letter to Judge Goldstone, asking him where his condemnation of the Fogel murders was. I don't know if his article is in response to that letter, but Judge Goldstone has obliged:

In the end, asking Hamas to investigate may have been a mistaken enterprise. So, too, the Human Rights Council should condemn the inexcusable and cold-blooded recent slaughter of a young Israeli couple and three of their small children in their beds.

In response, Eli Yishai was surprised by the article and wrote another letter to Judge Goldstone, saying, in part (as translated by the Rucho Shel Mashiach blog):

Your words today surprised me as well, and indicate your ability to come out with courage and admit your error, and for this you deserve appreciation. The Jewish tradition places a special value on those who acknowledge their mistakes.

On the other hand, R' Yitzhok Adlerstein writes:

Like the feathers released from the pillow in the Chofetz Chaim’s famous mashal, it is impossible to know how many lives were lost because of the report, and how many are still in jeopardy because he gave our enemies all the ammunition they could have asked for.

Let us all do our part in disseminating the Washington Post article to the world so that we can get as many feathers back in the pillow as possible so that the Teshuva of Judge Goldstone can be maximized.