Anti-Israel bigotry and bias Goldstone Report

RICHARD GOLDSTONE’S MEA CULPA ON HIS HIGHLY FLAWED REPORT……..

It’s nice to have been finally proven right, and by the very same author of the bogus report that bears his name, which will go down in history as one of worst attempts by the international community to demonize Israel on the world stage.  Goldstone writes:

“We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

Anyone who really understands the way the Israeli IDF conducts itself, in peacetime and in war, meaning it’s own strict military code of justice, it’s adherence to the rule of law and to civilian authority, realizes that any claim of systemic problems involving human rights abuses and violations of the Geneva Conventions is not possible. There are more than enough checks and balances in Israel’s system of governance to forestall any “systemic” violations from happening.

The Tundra Tabloids reported just a few weeks ago about an interview the TT participated in with an IDF medic, who was the first responder to the gruesome massacre of the Fogel  family in the Itamar Settlement. Paramedic Sergeant, Edi Itelman, stated in the interview the following that goes to the very heart of how the IDF operates:

I believe that the Israeli Defense Forces are a very humanitarian army and it lets me do my job.

Whenever I have seriously injured Palestinian citizens or even a terrorist or something like that, I will treat them as the best I can and use the entire extent of the army’s resources. If I need a helicopter to the person to the hospital, I will get a helecopter, if I need a trauma surgeon in the hospital, they will have a trauma surgeon waiting for me. They will allow you to do your job.

If the IDF was not a humanitarian army, such ethics would simply not exist, which means there is an attentiveness to the basic shared human morals that govern states who adhere to the rule of law. Goldstone should have known that before embarking on his wild goose chase that gave ample fodder to all of Israel’s enemies. KGS

NOTE: If the Finnish media fail to report on this story, does it mean that it never took place?

ALSO: Make sure you read YidWithLid’s post on Goldstone’s admissions.

Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes

By Richard Goldstone

[…] The final report by the U.N. committee of independent experts — chaired by former New York judge Mary McGowan Davis — that followed up on the recommendations of the Goldstone Report has found that “Israel has dedicated significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza” while “the de facto authorities (i.e., Hamas) have not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel.”

Our report found evidence of potential war crimes and “possibly crimes against humanity” by both Israel and Hamas. That the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were intentional goes without saying — its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.

The allegations of intentionality by Israel were based on the deaths of and injuries to civilians in situations where our fact-finding mission had no evidence on which to draw any other reasonable conclusion. While the investigations published by the Israeli military and recognized in the U.N. committee’s report have established the validity of some incidents that we investigated in cases involving individual soldiers, they also indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.

For example, the most serious attack the Goldstone Report focused on was the killing of some 29 members of the al-Simouni family in their home. The shelling of the home was apparently the consequence of an Israeli commander’s erroneous interpretation of a drone image, and an Israeli officer is under investigation for having ordered the attack. While the length of this investigation is frustrating, it appears that an appropriate process is underway, and I am confident that if the officer is found to have been negligent, Israel will respond accordingly. The purpose of these investigations, as I have always said, is to ensure accountability for improper actions, not to second-guess, with the benefit of hindsight, commanders making difficult battlefield decisions.

While I welcome Israel’s investigations into allegations, I share the concerns reflected in the McGowan Davis report that few of Israel’s inquiries have been concluded and believe that the proceedings should have been held in a public forum. Although the Israeli evidence that has emerged since publication of our report doesn’t negate the tragic loss of civilian life, I regret that our fact-finding mission did not have such evidence explaining the circumstances in which we said civilians in Gaza were targeted, because it probably would have influenced our findings about intentionality and war crimes.

Read it all here.

Former British Army Colonel Richard Kemp was right.

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