Israel weighs responses to 'barrage' of international criticism
Officials say particularly concerned over UN probe of country's court system in the wake of the Goldstone report on the Gaza war.
By Barak RavidIsrael's diplomatic and defense establishments will hold several meetings this week on how to contend with what some officials described as a "barrage" of international investigations into Israel's conduct.
 |
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, UNHRC Commissioner Navanethem Pillay, and Judge Richard Goldstone. |
| Photo by: Nir Kafri and AP |
The most disconcerting among them, officials said, is the United Nations committee charged with examining the credibility of Israel's court system in the wake of the Goldstone report on last winter's conflict in Gaza.
Two other international probes are soon set to begin over Israel's May raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla - one appointed by the UN's secretary general and the other by the organization's Human Rights Council.
The inquiry into the Israeli court system was decided on at a March meeting of the UNHRC in Geneva as part of its continuing effort to monitor Israel's response to the Goldstone report. The panel is charged with examining the efficiency, independence and professionalism of Israel's court system and its adherence to internationally accepted standards. Some Israeli officials have already begun describing it as "a second Goldstone committee."
Over the next few days, Israel is expected to decide whether or not to cooperate with the probe. The foreign and justice ministries are pushing for a policy change that would lead to Israeli recognition of the probe and full cooperation with it. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to decide what Israel's official response should be.
The committee is headed by the German jurist Christian Tomuschat; its other members are Mary McGowan Davis, a former justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and Malaysia's Param Cumaraswamy. The three are tasked with monitoring any legal steps taken by the Israeli or Palestinian authorities to implement the Goldstone report's recommendations.
The committee is set to begin its work in the next few weeks and submit a final report in October.
Israeli officials are concerned because this is the first time UN bodies have investigated Israel's military and civilian legal systems, and a harsh report by the committee could stain the reputation of Israel's legal system all the way to the Supreme Court. A negative report could also lead to various countries around the world ignoring Israeli court rulings or filing indictments against Israeli soldiers and officers.
High-ranking officials said that Netanyahu would meet with key ministers this week on whether to cooperate with the UNHRC investigation. The decision could ultimately be made in the diplomatic-security cabinet.
A decision to cooperate with the committee would represent an about-face in Israel's policy toward the Goldstone report: Until now, Jerusalem has resisted recognizing the legitimacy of either the report or the UNHRC. But officials in the foreign and justice ministries believe Israel must cooperate with the new probe in order to influence its findings.
Moreover, they argue, the new panel's mandate is not one-sidedly anti-Israel, as that of the Goldstone Committee was, nor are its members seen as holding particularly anti-Israel views.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week that he hopes to create a "review panel" to monitor investigations conducted in both Israel and Turkey over the May flotilla raid. Ban said he hopes the committee will include one representative from each of the two countries. Eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American were killed in the incident.
Ban reportedly told Netanyahu the panel could help prevent other international attempts to take legal steps against Israel over the raid and obviate the need for an emergency session of the UN General Assembly or Security Council on the incident. Ban also reportedly described the initiative as "a clear Israeli interest."
Netanyahu is expected to accede to the UN chief's request, but also to insist that the panel not begin its work before the Turkel Committee - the Israeli panel investigating the raid - finishes its report.
The third international committee of inquiry into Israel's conduct was set up by the UNHRC in Geneva to probe the flotilla incident. That panel is charged with determining whether Israel violated international law and committed war crimes in taking over the Gaza-bound vessel. However, finalization of its membership has been delayed by the ouster of its designated chairman, former foreign minister of Iceland Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, after it emerged that she had signed a petition in support of the flotilla.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Israel would be as foolish to think this inquiry will be objective, regradless of the credentials of the jurists. Was Goldstone objective?
like investigate and stop human right violations around the world where thousands are being abused murdered and repressed daily. for example china->tibet, iran, saudi, sudan, nigeria, turkey, central asia etc...... not that a wrong elsewhere means Israel is right, but it would be nice to see UNHRC also putting some effort in stopping these much more violent HR violations. the tibetans have been oppressed for ever, but no one seems to care. Unfortunately since UNHRC is actually controlled by the arab block there is a no chance of it ever investigating countries that are muslim or arab friendly. and the arabs need the chinese because china is their voice on the UNSC. Guess they should change the name if IUNHRC.
62 years of oppression and land theft--not to mention barabarism in it,s rwaest form. Yep---squeaky wheel theory applies here. You could try ending the occupation----no--oh well.
Change the way you behave. You should have known the day was coming when the world would finally get sick of your actions. Like a kid, you pushed and pushed the limits. Now you've found where the limits are. How about just behaving like a moral, ethical democracy instead of what you have become.
What is going on here? The UN is to examine the ‘credibility of Israel's court system’? There is definitely something very wrong with an organization that seems to devote so much time, energy and resources (3 committees have now been set up for one incident) to continuously examining every move, every action, every decision Israel makes. What happens in the rest of the world does not seem to matter - the suffering of millions living under totalitarian regimes, the grotesque tortures, atrocities, exploitation committed on innocent people by dubious legal systems - these do not need to be examined and condemned. This is really appalling.
All the atrocities you mentioned all kind of happen within Israel and the Palestinian territories BY Israel. So, you can try and divert the attention away to other places with the same problems, but that does not diminish them in Israel!
So…Europeancitizen you know all about ‘atrocities’ within Israel, and you think that these warrant no less then 3 International investigations, as against no investigations in other places? Well, think again and maybe you will understand what Xena was trying to say. Same goes to the other idiots who gave that post a thumbs down.
we'll soon learn that Tomuschat, Davis, and Cumaraswamy are either hopelessly biased against Israel, or complete fools, and that their mandate is also hopelessly biased against Israel, just like we learned that same things about Goldstone and his mandate. Not that they actually are, just that we will be taught they are.
You want to tell me that Iran, Cuba and Sudan voted to investigate Israel's court system? What's next, Nazis investigating racism in the Jewish community?
The UN has many many failures which have cost hundreds of thousands of people theior lives from darfur to rwanda and everywhere in between. Who is thus upstart arrogant Un that thinks it has teh right to investigate ISraels courts. The Un has nom credibility, has poutlived its usefulness, is being run by the worst countries for human rights violations and ity dares to perceives ISralei courts as inadequate. The Un best before date passed a long time ago Time to dismantle it
Most would agree with you, Sabra - the UN has indeed made many mistakes. And many would add the Partition Plan of November '47, in effect creating the State of Israel. A major travesty of justice, pushed through by US President Truman against the advice of his own State Department.
"The panel is charged with examining the efficiency, independence and professionalism of Israel's court system and its adherence to internationally accepted standards." Israel is the only true democracy in that most troubled part of the world. It also demands many special considerations because it is that only democracy. But democracies are subject to upholding certain standards. Should special considerations be granted when the standards of any democracy are not being upheld? Seems we’ll soon see.
Definitely sounds like a "barrage" to me! What other country undergoes so much international scrutiny? It's outrageous! Imagine if the US had this many different committees to investigate every bombing run in Pakistan.
The UN has told Israel to do something about investigating the allegations in the Goldstone Report. Israel refuses. Why be "stunned" when the UN decides that it will not let the matter rest merely because Netanyahu tells them to piss off?
Iraq/Afganistan? Russia on chechneya? Russia on georgia? turkey on kurdistan? Hamas on crimes against gazans? Whats with the obsession with Israel?
Please, somebody save me from this bad neighborhood. The very thought of the UN mounting any kind of effort to cast doubt on the Israeli legal system would be considered the ultimate joke by most Americans. It took a world war to put an end to the farce that was the League of Nations. I'm afraid it will be no different this time with the United Nations...an absolute joke of the first order.
I SINCERELY INVITE ALL ISRAELIS TO READ THIS ARTICLE. THIS IS NOT SOME INDIVIDUAL CRITICISING ISRAEL, IT IS AN INTERNATIONAL PROBE IN TO ISRAEL CONDUCT. IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH CORRUPTON WITHIN THE ISRAEL LEGAL SYSTEM, ITS JUDICIARYAND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES. I DONT BELIEVE I HAVE TO ADD ANY MORE TO THIS TO HELP ISRAELIS WAKE UP FROM LIVING AND SLEEPING IN A VACUUM STATE IN IGNORANCE.
The Goldstone report found Palestinian war crimes. Why is there no investigation there? It is clear that the international community cannot and should not be trusted. Double standard galore! Typical of the brain-washed.