Goldstone: Punish commanders who broke laws in Gaza
Israel blasts UN report on Gaza war crimes as 'fictional'; probe commission head denies bias charges.
By Haaretz Service Tags: Goldstone report Sderot Israel news GazaThe head of a United Nations commission that charged Israel with committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip during its offensive there earlier last winter wrote Thursday that soldiers and commanders must be held accountable for serious violations during the fighting.
In a New York Times op-ed, Richard Goldstone wrote that "Israel must investigate, and Hamas is obliged to do the same. They must examine what happened and appropriately punish any soldier or commander found to have violated the law."
Goldstone accused both Israel and Hamas of conducting biased and ineffectual investigations, if at all, saying that "unfortunately, both Israel and Hamas have dismal records of investigating their own forces."
Also Thursday, Goldstone denied allegations that his investigative team had set out on a biased mission.
"I deny that completely," Goldstone said in remarks broadcast on public radio Thursday, following Israeli accusations.
"I was completely independent, nobody dictated any outcome, and the outcome was a result of the independent inquiries that our mission made," he said.
Goldstone told interviewers that he stood behind his commission's findings and regretted only Israel's refusal to cooperate with the investigation.
"If there is any difference that I would have preferred, [it] would have been that we could have got cooperation from Israel and in particular, I would have liked the Israeli government to assist us and decide what we should investigate because that's what I asked them to do," he said.
The nearly 600 page report also accused Palestinian militants of committing war crimes by firing rockets on civilians populations.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday called the Goldstone Commission's conclusion that Israel committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip "pre-determined."
"The Goldstone Commission was formed to find Israel of war crimes determined in advance," said Lieberman. "Members of the panel did give the facts a chance to confuse them."
"The Goldstone report is seeking to bring the UN back to the dark days in which it decided, under the guidance of states with interests, that Zionism is racism," added Lieberman in a statement sent to journalists.
The report, he continued, "has no legal, factual or ethical validity whatsoever."
"The state of Israel will continue to defend its citizens from the attacks of terrorists and terrorist organizations, and will continue to defend its soldiers against attacks of hypocrisy and distortion," he added.
Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit on Wednesday denounced the United Nations report as "biased" and said it blatantly overstepped the commission's mandate.
The Goldstone report is "biased, extremely radical, and has no basis in reality," Mendelblit said.
Israel has meanwhile asked a number of senior members of the Obama administration to assist in curbing the international fallout from the Goldstone Commission report released this week, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
The Foreign Ministry decided Wednesday to focus their efforts to combat the report's accusations on the United States, Russia and a few other members of the United Nations Security Council and the Human Rights Council that are involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Israeli message is that the Goldstone report threatens those countries because it makes the war on terror very difficult, and therefore efforts must be made to prevent it from being brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the issue Wednesday with U.S. special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, while Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon discussed it with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and other senior officials.
Israel has also asked a number of senior members of the Obama administration to assist in curbing the international fallout from the Goldstone Commission report.
HAARETZ SPECIAL FEATURE: The Goldstone Commission Report
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Why wait for the line ups for others.Isreal should be treated different because lots of war crimes trial swere being done for holocaust.Jewes should have higher values and they should be held accountable more than others
No missiles, no Cast Lead. So who's responsible for all the suffering. Not the IDF, not Israel. Arrest the wankers who organised the missiles, O sorry, they've got oil so that's all right. Israel's got no oil so they must be wrong.
Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanastan have been sanctioned by the UN and NATO respectively. Yeah, war crimes occurred..civilians killed; but it's more understanding due to up front nature of USA and Coalition forces. IDF attack on Gaza was not proportional and certainly not defensive. Thoses are big issues, which justify not connecting USA to war crimes, like Israel with their Gaza experience.
Becouse somebody kills doesn't give you the wright to kill...
It is impossible for any country can prosecute a war without harming civilians who have no place to seek shelter. That the international community would respond as it has was a given. Hamas knew that and applied a strategic sucker punch to Israel's gut. The IDF played into Hamas' hands perfectly. Now Israel is paying the price, and it's one the country can ill afford.
lanthis:"Goldstone report --More Blah, blah --does not stop Hamas rockets." A suggestion lanthis would be for Israel to stop building on Palestinian land which would end the tension on both sides and stop the rockets.
a wandering Jew:"Did they want to try anyone from Hamas ?." The panel focused on 36 incidents in which Israeli troops appeared"either reckless disproportionate or deliberate". Goldstone said. It also found that Palestinians militants operated from urban areas populated by civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed during the fighting: ten soldiers and three civilians. Human rights groups say, that approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians.
norman a blumberg:"Always crying bias 17,I see. Guilty until proven innocent eh?." Oh i see!! that reminds me of George W Bush and the accusation that Iraq had WMD.Guilty until proven innocent eh?
As they blame the Palestinians for Israel's crimes should remember that most countries have soldiers in Afghanistan who will be ripe for picking off by the Taliban every time those western clowns prop up the criminal state Israel. Gaza is occupied territory, Israel has to feed, clothe, give health care and civil rights to all the citizens living there yet they starve, bomb and slaughter them while bulldozing their homes. There are thousands of reports for the world to see and dozens of excellent Israeli historians and journalists, breaking the silence and refuseniks telling the world the truth.
Never guilty because you're talking about Israel is just as wrong as guilty until proven innocent.
Israel went in to stop the firing of missiles at their citizens. Any other country in the same situation would have done far worse and every honest person knows it!
Israel will punish any Hamas Commanders guilty of war crimes it can arrest. This much we know. hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been arrested, tried and convicted under Israeli laws over the last 40 years. But if Mr. Goldstone thinks that any Israeli commanders will be arrested and tried then he is a fool. I suspect he is not, but is making his request as a pro-forma action. Palestine is legally occupied by Israel. Thus there is the possibility of justice being wrought upon Palestinians who commit war crimes. Good. But only a fool would think that the Legal Occupying Power would investigate itself and convict itself of war crimes. The world does not work that way.
what a travesty! what a farce! what a bunch of hypocrites! my recomendation is to take your report and reintroduce it to your gi tract via the backdoor!
Hateful Hamas did.Haaretz doesn't put out my comments.I wonder why?
Why we should talk with Hammas? Why Obama doesn't talk with BenLAden? if people in Gaza wanted peace they shouldn't have elected the Hammas "peaceful" government
I see. Guilty until proven innocent eh?
Since other armies in many countries have committed atrocities, it justifies Israel ongoing carnage and genocide ? Way to think ! Great guilt admission.
our military planners absorbed the lesson and used massive fire to save israeli lives.i completely and absolutely agree with that. but it also must be apreciated that israel waited for a long long time before it took action.the south including the kibbutzim and sderot ashkelon and ashdod took a lot of punishment before the idf finally moved in. we tried to avoid war but when we moved in we were not going to lose the lives of our soldiers.
I fully support Judge Goldstone. I don't know if my first message got through, but this vindicates those soldiers who went into Gaza and were disturbed by what they saw. Human rights values are Jewish values, and we should look into our behaviour, and be glad when someone holds the mirror up to our actions. The operation was successful, but the patient died on the operating table.
Anyone could have written the Israeli (official and quasi-official) responses to the Goldstone report, which consists of the usual accusations of bias which are systematically directed at each and every organization or individual who expresses even mild criticisms of Israel's wrongdoing. Very tiresome and not very credible. If the report contains false or inaccurate info, lets see the evidence.
Goldstone's denial of bias because of his independence in the investigation is ludicrous. To assume one cannot be biased without a foreign influence is an odd assumption. Read Goldstone's remarks before the start of his investigation. Note who financed the investigation. I agree with the conclusion that when the dust settles Goldstone's report, for better and for worse, will be discarded by those that already planned to do so and heralded by those that are seeking any justification for their current beliefs. Every person knows the carnage accompanying war and to claim ignorance is a lie. Every country is more than guilty of moral failings and claiming Israel is of greater culpability is tantamount to hypocrisy. Blame Israel's supposed positioning on the pedestal as welcoming critique and I'll point out the juvenile nature of selecting your cause. Defend Hamas's actions as justified, then understand the Pandora's box your opening.
Shouldn't Israeli officers have to wait in line when it comes to trials for "wara crimes"? There's the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Russians in Chechnya, and the Chinese in Tibet, and the Sri Lankan Army in its campaign against the Tamil Tigers, and the Tamil Timgers in its campaign against Sri Lanka, and the Syrian Army in its suppression of Syrians, And the Indonesian Army in East Timor, Western New Guinea, and elsewhere, and all the factional armies in Rwanda and the Congo, and the Indian Army in Kashmir. And let's not forget the Russian army in East Prussia, and the USAAF and RAF over various German cities like Dresden and Hamburg, and.... Why go on? The point is obvious.
it's a piece of paper - it makes no difference - people long ago made up their minds ojn the war go on the PR offensive and show how many other counties ignore UN reports all these years
war crimes trials only up for Israel, not considered hypocritical to excuse individual Hamas commanders from war crimes or to excuse non-Jewish commanders for non-combatants killed in the course of military operations against non-legal combatants, as in Afghanistan, Chechnya or anywhere Jews not involved--essential premise is that Israel is not permitted to stop the Judenrein Nazi boycotts--of her products, of her lands, of her existence
Where are the inquiries? Why is the UN not up in arms over these events? Is it because the general assembly of the UN (led by the likes of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Libya) has an agenda that is anti-semitic, and it has no interest in bringing anyone to justice, only to persecute Jews under the guise of international law?
Innocent civilians trapped 24/7 in Afghanistan Iraq and Pakistan while NATO drones under orders of US and British generals massacre them by the thousands with an admission by both the UK and NATO that they will continue to do so leaving the women and children no way to escape the onslaught. I understand that, because THAT is a US/British/NATO genocide, that does not call for International action and a war crimes investigation. Am I correct Jan.......you and yours are not subject to the same "international laws" as the Jews when it comes to defending yourselves?
Goldstone has inadvertably answered the BIG question which is was Israel justified in going to war in Gaza. It was very little of the 600 pages i.e. mostly in what he didn't say that he proved Israel was justified in going to war in Gaza. All he said was that the firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas was a war crime and in all 600 pages he didnt say it was a crime for Israel to have attacked Gaza for this. In my books after 10 years of enduring this war crime by Hamas which no-one bothered to acknowledge let alone investigate, Israel had no other option but to attack Gaza. Thus all loss of life and damage that came about is for Hamas account.
international law should be applied to all and not only to israel. maybe mr, goldstone is an honest man but working for a discrasefull organization .
The report will suffocate under its own weight, bias and true public opinion. In America and no small part of even the Arab world, they were wondering why it took the Israeli's so long to react to the rocket terror. The only reason there is a near cessation of rockets was Cast Lead. If the rockets start again it will be due to Israeli weakness of response, not a UN report.
Mr. Goldstone's brief was to inspect the transgressions of international law during the fighting in Gaza. The brief was given him by the United Nations and did not include war crimes committed by other nations at other times. One can only hope that if he is assigned to look into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka, his inquiry will be as fair and complete as that done in Gaza. The use of overwhelming force by the IDF in Gaza probably resulted in fewer deaths of Israeli soldiers, for which any number of Israeli mothers, fathers, wives and children are no doubt thankful. But the too often discounting of civilian deaths from such tactics by the IDF in Gaza is invidious; not to admit it is just that which gains us the increasing alienation from the rest of the world.
Jews trapped in Sderot, emdured eight years of rockets being fired from Gaza If Israel hadn't have been under constant bombardment there would have no necessity for Operation Cast Lead or any sort of an onslaught As you give, so shall you receive, payback is fair
Chechnya, Sri Lanka, Swat are not our problem. Our problem is why we attacked sitting ducks in that way and why our public did not grasp the horrifying nature of what was happening. Eight years of Qassams were awful for the people of Sderot. Eight years of targeted killings were awful for the Gazans. During those eight years no meaningful attempt was made to talk to Hamas, only force was applied. Cast Lead, when tanks and airplanes fought donkey carts and mobile rocket launchers came on top of that. Three weeks of complete mayhem have left Gaza's population, at the mercy of both its government and our army, without shelter or infrastructure and winter is already in the air. Goldstone has compiled a report that should make us ask questions. Read Lisa Goldman on why we didn't ask questions then: http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/covering_gaza_from_israel_1.php
such strong condemnations from the Israeli side! Goldstone must really have hit a nerve there! Or the Israeli government is just really scared that they finally have to accept responsibility for their actions.It's great to find Israel and Hamas in the same line, denying any wrong doing from their side. they are so different yet sooo equal. Kudos, Goldstone!
why do you think that sri lanka and chechnya should not be considered while israel is targeted. as you know the russians in chechenya were responsible for three hundred thousand civilian deaths. the sri lankans killed over ninety thousand civilians. waiting to hear from you.
pd: just 4%.Sudafrica love jews like you. Enjoy shana toba
People trapped within Gaza 27 day war night and day bombings white phosperous dime weapons and terrified children wake up civilians had no way of escaping the onslaught.