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Last update - 22:45 20/10/2009
Israel prepares to fight war crimes trials after Goldstone Gaza report
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel News 

The prospect that Israeli officials could face war crimes trials abroad led the political-security cabinet on Tuesday to form a committee to deal with the international legal consequences of the Goldstone Commission's report on the Gaza war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised a lengthy battle to "delegitimize" the findings of the United Nations commission, also instructed government officials to draft proposals for changing international laws of war.

The cabinet met to discuss Israel's diplomatic and legal response to the Goldstone report and its endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
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Netanyahu's office said in a statement his security cabinet instructed the Justice Ministry to form a committee to deal with the prospect of "legal proceedings abroad against the state of Israel or its citizens".

"We need to keep punching a hole in this lie that is spreading with the help of the Goldstone report," Netanyahu was quoted as saying in the statement.

The Israeli leader also instructed his government to draft an initiative to change the laws of war to take into account the need to contend with "the expansion of terrorism in the world".

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, however, refused to discuss at the meeting the possibility of setting up a governmental inquiry committee to look into some of the report's findings regarding Palestinian casualties.

"There is no need for a committee of inquiry," said Barak, according to a
statement from his office. "The Israeli military knows to examine itself better than anyone else, said Barak.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had planned to raise that issue during the meeting, but was forced to set the topic aside until the next deliberation on the report.


A governmental inquiry committee, should one be established, would investigate the report's claims regarding the circumstances of some Palestinian civilian casualties.

Ministers who participated in the meeting said that little was accomplished during the meeting and that further deliberations on the matter have been scheduled for next week.

The only decision reached during Tuesday's deliberations was to establish a legal-diplomatic panel to deal with any implications of war crimes warrants that might be issued against Israeli officials.

The Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry had raised the proposal for such a panel, to prepare a strategy for an informational, diplomatic and legal response to the report.

Netanyahu told Likud Knesset members on Monday that "the report is going to the UN [organs in New York]. We're going to see to it that it's vetoed."

He said he expects the report to be discussed by both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

The UNHRC's endorsement of the report, along with the likelihood that it will be discussed by UN institutions in New York, "give the report an aura of international legitimacy that may lead the general prosecutor at the International [Criminal] Court in The Hague to indict senior Israeli officials," Netanyahu added.

Many countries have told Israel that launching an independent local inquiry would stall the report and prevent it from being forwarded to the International Criminal Court.

This proposition enjoys strong support from the justice and foreign ministries, which believe it would be of great help in dealing with the report internationally. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has not ruled it out, but is keen to ensure that any external civilian investigation not undermine the status of the army's investigative and legal authorities.

A government source said Netanyahu is considering the idea, but is unsure what scope the investigation should have.

An in-depth investigation of the report's claims, government sources explained, could remove the report from the international agenda, but it might also undermine the status of the IDF's own prosecutorial and investigative agencies. A superficial inquiry, however, would look like a cover-up and merely increase international pressure over the report.

Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak has been mentioned as a leading candidate to head such an inquiry committee.

A source in the Prime Minister's Office said on Monday that setting up an inquiry committee was not actually on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, and would only be discussed if one of the ministers, or the attorney general, should bring it up.

Sunday night, the septet of top cabinet ministers held its own discussion of the Goldstone report. Following this discussion, the prime minister instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare a special informational campaign to combat the report.

The central message Netanyahu wants the campaign to stress is that Israel will be willing to make diplomatic, and especially territorial, concessions only if its right to self-defense is guaranteed.

The Goldstone report concluded that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during their three-week war in the Gaza Strip in January. It recommended that both sides be given six months to launch their own inquiries into the report's charges, and said that if either party failed to launch an inquiry within this time, or if the inquiry was not deemed credible, that party should be referred to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.


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      1.   Oye, the way our government phrases this: 09:08  |  Esther 20/10/09
      2.   either way 13:30  |  Fawaz 20/10/09
      3.   Only got six months guys - no right of veto in the GA! 18:14  |  Sceptic 20/10/09
      4.   idem 18:23  |  Huegelsberger Joachi 20/10/09
      5.   Considering his position in the Government 18:24  |  Mark Lincoln 20/10/09
      6.   WAR CRIME WARRANTS... 18:29  |  EL 20/10/09
      7.   #2 fawaz forgets how did goldstone recognise hamas members giving 18:31  |  vhardman 20/10/09
      8.   Israels one note samba....."Nothing is ever our fault" 18:45  |  Natallie Durson 20/10/09
      9.   Barak is war criminal #1---of course he does not want 19:03  |  Labhras 20/10/09
      10.   Goldstone Report Is Not WorthTthe Paper its Written On 19:07  |  Shepherd 20/10/09
      11.   I have an opinion (an d a correction) 19:22  |  Huegelsberger Joachi 20/10/09
      12.   Continued Stonewall of Goldstone Report 19:23  |  Vladek 20/10/09
      13.   The cardinal question seems to be... 19:33  |  Esther 20/10/09
      14.   the IL gov should pay out the Palestinian civilian casualties, 19:39  |  Tito 20/10/09
      15.   Goldstone Report, President Obam Trojan Horse 19:44  |  Arturo Himmelman 20/10/09
      16.   Supreme policy: just keep saying nothing in particular... 19:48  |  Esther 20/10/09
      17.   Only a question of time 19:49  |  Torontonian 20/10/09
      18.   I know it when I see it 19:52  |  Bazmann 20/10/09
      19.   Obama Has His ORDERS 20:02  |  Mark of Lewiston 20/10/09
      20.   "Change international laws of war"? You mean the laws enacted... 20:05  |  peacelover 20/10/09
      21.   Israel and the Goldstone report 20:06  |  Marie Mirabeau 20/10/09
      22.   And now the most priceless of all... 20:06  |  Esther 20/10/09
      23.   Oh, Esther, how naive 20:14  |  SDHD 20/10/09
      24.   To answer Marie Mirabeau`s questions 20:17  |  SDHD 20/10/09
      25.   "The Israeli military knows to examine ITSELF better than anyone" 20:26  |  Realist 20/10/09
      26.   That`s a tall order 20:28  |  Colin Wright 20/10/09
      27.   Goldstone Trustee of HU? 20:37  |  CBB 20/10/09
      28.   please give us an intelligent response to Goldstone 20:39  |  Mark 20/10/09
      29.   Just make it all go away... 20:40  |  Silvienne 20/10/09
      30.   To Colin.... 20:41  |  Silvienne 20/10/09
      31.   ostriches 20:49  |  elsie 20/10/09
      32.   USS LIberty 20:51  |  fred 20/10/09
      33.   To amswer SDHD---Israel commits far more war crimes 20:55  |  Labhras 20/10/09
      34.   The headline is enough 20:55  |  Axel 20/10/09
      35.   Colin Wright/ Silvienne - A Simple Matter 20:58  |  Mark of Lewiston 20/10/09
      36.   Waste of time 20:59  |  LanosIceland 20/10/09
      37.   FRED USS Liberty was investigated in the USA by Americans! 21:05  |  PETER SM 20/10/09
      38.   Labrhat`s delusions 21:06  |  SDHD 20/10/09
      39.   S H T U I O T 21:06  |  17 20/10/09
      40.   " the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights -" 21:10  |  PETER SM 20/10/09
      41.   Change laws of war ???? 21:15  |  kibishi 20/10/09
      42.   Goldstone report is a God send for Netanyahu 21:16  |  Dmitry Kalametris 20/10/09
      43.   When the only way to win is actually to loose.. 21:20  |  Kris Lazar 20/10/09
      44.   Human Rights Watch founder`s comments 21:32  |  philtlucre 20/10/09
      45.   NATALIE HOW ABOUT DADDY 21:38  |  TOBIA 20/10/09
      46.   In the USA 21:50  |  Ron 20/10/09
      47.   Instead of fighting war crimes, Israel fights war crimes trials 21:59  |  Concerned citizen 20/10/09
      48.   I agree... 22:07  |  corey 20/10/09
      49.   ICC Will Impale Itself on this Matter 22:10  |  JP 20/10/09
      50.   Fred, give up on the Liberty 22:15  |  Mark Lincoln 20/10/09
      51.   Natanyahu is always right !! 22:17  |  Tony Silver 20/10/09
      52.   so typical 22:26  |  edgar 20/10/09
      53.   #36 it must be joined to russia china usa britain 22:30  |  vhardman 20/10/09
      54.   Fake Realist 25 Don`t you have your own name? 22:33  |  Realist 20/10/09
      55.   This is not a PR exercise 22:37  |  Aharon 20/10/09
      56.   SCEPTIC no automatic majority in the Security Council 23:15  |  PETER SM 20/10/09
      57.   Marie Mireabeu,Ivory Coast demonstrators,butchered by Legion Et 23:21  |  Absolute Sweden 20/10/09
      58.   Durson`s one note blaablaa - Palestinian war crimes don`t exist 23:39  |  Joe Sittizen 20/10/09
      59.   Goldstone Report 00:03  |  Hugh 21/10/09
      60.   Labhras 00:45  |  Sarah 21/10/09
      61.   HOLY COW 00:55  |  VIPER 21/10/09
      62.   Lying Eyes 02:11  |  Steve 21/10/09
      63.   Goldstone Report is a suppository. 02:39  |  Alan Lezak 21/10/09
      64.   barak: "well ummm, we could form an independent committee... 05:07  |  eric 21/10/09
      65.   To Mark of Lewiston #35 `Colin Wright...` 05:25  |  Colin Wright 21/10/09
      66.   #19 Mohamed of Lewiston 05:29  |  CT Yankee 21/10/09
      67.   Please Moves the GOAL POST 4 my Benefit. 15:52  |  Piero 21/10/09
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