The Goldstone Commission Report
The Goldstone Commission is one a number of panels that were set up ostensibly to investigate what happened during the IDF's Operation Cast Lead (OCL) in Gaza last year. But, like Human Right's Watch (HRW), the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Israeli left-wing organization B'Tselem ("In the Image"), the Goldstone Commission had an inbuilt anti-Israel bias from its inception. Why there is such a need for these multiple over-lapping and unfair investigations of Israel is unclear. For example, there are no such detailed investigations of any other conflict around the world, including Sri Lanka and Darfur.
The Goldstone Commission was set up by the UN Human Rights Commitee to investigate the human rights abuses committed by the IDF in Gaza. It should be noted that the UN Human Rights Committee includes such leading human rights countries as Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China! Although the investigation was supposed to be impartial, there was no hint of balance or of objectivity in the Commission's terms of reference. Consequently the State of Israel refused to cooperate with the Commission.
After South African Jewish judge Richard Goldstone accepted to head the Commission, and he was roundly attacked for being the Jewish "front-man", in order to try to protect his credibility he stated that he would include Hamas rocket fire into Israel as a part of the Commission's prerogative. And they even interviewed several people from Sderot, including the father of Gilad Schalit, Noam Schalit. However, no change was made to the Commission's official mandate and although Judge Goldstone in his presentation of the Report on Tuesday stated that both sides committed human rights abuses, the bulk of the 575 page Report focuses on Israel and finds of course that the IDF committed "war crimes" and possible "crimes against humanity." As a result of the lack of factual basis and the inherent bias the Israeli Government has categorically rejected the Report.
The Commission itself has been criticized by a group of 50 eminent lawyers for its evident bias and one-sided approach. Of the four members of the Commission, three have previously been on record as being anti-Israel, and one member, LSE Professor Christine Chinkin, only recently signed a public letter criticizing Israel for human rights abuses, the very issue the Commission was set up to investigate, a direct contradiction of due process and impartiality.
It should also be noted that Judge Goldstone is a member of the board of HRW, which issued its own biased Report recently criticizing Israel for its human rights violations in Gaza against Palestinian civilians during OCL, although ignoring Hamas violations. In their Report, HRW concluded that of the ca. 1,300 Palestinian casualties in OCR, over half, ca. 750, were civilians, and the number of "gunmen" were a minority. This is directly contrary to the numbers reported by the IDF after extensive investigations soon after the war. According to the IDF Report the number of terrorists killed in the action were in fact ca. 750 and the minority (ca. 500) were classified as civilians. However since Palestinian gunmen dress as civilians, it is actually impossible to distinguish between them, and organizations that are biased against Israel usually accept that anyone not in uniform is a civilian, whereas clearly that is not the case. Also, the involvement of women and teenagers in actions against the IDF was documented, although HRW discounts these cases.
The bulk of the Goldstone Report is based on unverifiable Palestinian testimony, and we all know how reliable that is, for example the Jenin "massacre" that never was, was testifed to by many Palestinians. The Report is also heavily based on the earlier Reports, including HRW, PCHR and others, as if they were prepared to be the basis for the Goldstone Report.
Recent developments have demolished the credibility of all four investigators of the HRW Report. Joe Stork was previously implicated in the so-called "beach massacre" in Gaza, when a family was supposed to have been deliberately targeted by the IDF, but that was subsequently shown to be a fraud. Ken Roth is simply a Hamas apologist and Lois Whitman is a routine human rights critic of Israel. Most seriously, the other member, Marc Garlasco, was recently found to be a collector of Nazi memorabilia (his grandfather was a Nazi during WWII) and after first saying that this was just a "hobby" he was forced to resign. So much for the credibility of the members of this supposed impartial organization that is really out to get Israel.
The danger of the Goldstone Report is that the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court in the Hague could be motivated to pursue its preposterous recommendations. There is a whole list of them for Israel, including opening up Gaza and allowing free Palestinian access between Gaza and the West Bank, well beyond the scope of the Commission's prerogatives, while the Palestinian "armed groups" are recommended to obey international law! The main danger of accepting this Report at face value is the potential of UN sanctions against Israel and similar biased investigations of American human rights abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. If accepted, it could be the opening shot of a new war against the Western democracies defending themselves against terrorism.
The Goldstone Commission was set up by the UN Human Rights Commitee to investigate the human rights abuses committed by the IDF in Gaza. It should be noted that the UN Human Rights Committee includes such leading human rights countries as Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China! Although the investigation was supposed to be impartial, there was no hint of balance or of objectivity in the Commission's terms of reference. Consequently the State of Israel refused to cooperate with the Commission.
After South African Jewish judge Richard Goldstone accepted to head the Commission, and he was roundly attacked for being the Jewish "front-man", in order to try to protect his credibility he stated that he would include Hamas rocket fire into Israel as a part of the Commission's prerogative. And they even interviewed several people from Sderot, including the father of Gilad Schalit, Noam Schalit. However, no change was made to the Commission's official mandate and although Judge Goldstone in his presentation of the Report on Tuesday stated that both sides committed human rights abuses, the bulk of the 575 page Report focuses on Israel and finds of course that the IDF committed "war crimes" and possible "crimes against humanity." As a result of the lack of factual basis and the inherent bias the Israeli Government has categorically rejected the Report.
The Commission itself has been criticized by a group of 50 eminent lawyers for its evident bias and one-sided approach. Of the four members of the Commission, three have previously been on record as being anti-Israel, and one member, LSE Professor Christine Chinkin, only recently signed a public letter criticizing Israel for human rights abuses, the very issue the Commission was set up to investigate, a direct contradiction of due process and impartiality.
It should also be noted that Judge Goldstone is a member of the board of HRW, which issued its own biased Report recently criticizing Israel for its human rights violations in Gaza against Palestinian civilians during OCL, although ignoring Hamas violations. In their Report, HRW concluded that of the ca. 1,300 Palestinian casualties in OCR, over half, ca. 750, were civilians, and the number of "gunmen" were a minority. This is directly contrary to the numbers reported by the IDF after extensive investigations soon after the war. According to the IDF Report the number of terrorists killed in the action were in fact ca. 750 and the minority (ca. 500) were classified as civilians. However since Palestinian gunmen dress as civilians, it is actually impossible to distinguish between them, and organizations that are biased against Israel usually accept that anyone not in uniform is a civilian, whereas clearly that is not the case. Also, the involvement of women and teenagers in actions against the IDF was documented, although HRW discounts these cases.
The bulk of the Goldstone Report is based on unverifiable Palestinian testimony, and we all know how reliable that is, for example the Jenin "massacre" that never was, was testifed to by many Palestinians. The Report is also heavily based on the earlier Reports, including HRW, PCHR and others, as if they were prepared to be the basis for the Goldstone Report.
Recent developments have demolished the credibility of all four investigators of the HRW Report. Joe Stork was previously implicated in the so-called "beach massacre" in Gaza, when a family was supposed to have been deliberately targeted by the IDF, but that was subsequently shown to be a fraud. Ken Roth is simply a Hamas apologist and Lois Whitman is a routine human rights critic of Israel. Most seriously, the other member, Marc Garlasco, was recently found to be a collector of Nazi memorabilia (his grandfather was a Nazi during WWII) and after first saying that this was just a "hobby" he was forced to resign. So much for the credibility of the members of this supposed impartial organization that is really out to get Israel.
The danger of the Goldstone Report is that the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court in the Hague could be motivated to pursue its preposterous recommendations. There is a whole list of them for Israel, including opening up Gaza and allowing free Palestinian access between Gaza and the West Bank, well beyond the scope of the Commission's prerogatives, while the Palestinian "armed groups" are recommended to obey international law! The main danger of accepting this Report at face value is the potential of UN sanctions against Israel and similar biased investigations of American human rights abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. If accepted, it could be the opening shot of a new war against the Western democracies defending themselves against terrorism.
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:56 PM
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