Israel Poised to Challenge U.N. Report on Gaza

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Israeli military is completing a rebuttal to a United Nations report accusing it of grave violations of international and humanitarian law in its Gaza invasion a year ago. Its central aim is to dispel the report’s harsh conclusion — that the death of noncombatants and destruction of civilian infrastructure were part of an official plan to terrorize the Palestinian population.

The United Nations report, by a committee led by Richard Goldstone, an esteemed South African judge, was published in late September and called on Israel to carry out an independent investigation of its conduct of the three-week war.

Israel, which had refused to cooperate with the investigation, at first dismissed the report as unworthy of attention. But the government quickly found that the world took it quite seriously and found itself accused of premeditated war crimes. It now considers fighting that charge a priority.

“We face three major strategic challenges,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently. “The Iranian nuclear program, rockets aimed at our civilians and Goldstone.”

The rebuttal will be given to United Nations officials in the coming weeks and its contents will remain under wraps until then. But officers involved in writing the report gave some details."

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[classysassy]

1. Fear not, Benjamin

we've got your back,we also have the veto.

[Tripmann]

2. It would make israels denial of war crimes a lot more believable...

...if they weren't continuing to commit an act of war against the same people.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Sort of surprised at this...Goldstone report was pretty well written of within the first couple

of weeks after its release. Even the Obama administration had issues with it.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. I did like how Nutty places Goldstone on the same level of danger as Iran and Qassams

I think all my Christmases would have come at once if I could be seen as that dangerous! ;)

[bemildred]

6. Well, that was what struck me about this story.

That apparently it has NOT gone away, either that or Nuttyahoo is a fool, always a possible interpretation. But anyway, it seems to indicate that efforts to ignore or dismiss the report are being abandoned in favor or attempts to refute it. Of course that has been going on all along anyway informally.

You have to wonder if this is related to the 6 month time limit too, although the idea there was to do your own credible investigation IIRC.

[FarrenH]

10. Not where I live

Around here only a small minority of militant Zionists dismiss it. EVERY SINGLE MAJOR NEWSPAPER in my country reports it as a signficant, credible and troubling document. Even right-wingers I know think pressure needs to be placed on Israel.

I sometimes wonder if unquestioning American supporters of Israel realises there is a whole world outside of the American bubble that have the exact opposite view to US beltway consensus. In the UK (where my brother and several friends live), Australia (where several of my friends live) and South Africa (where I live), the beltway consensus on Israel is more often seen as the product of a dysfunctional American political dialog, a product of the same insular thinking that amazed us so much when your corporate press were just repeating blatant lies about Iraq under Bush without any apparent skepticism. Just as those lies were breathtakingly blatant, the degree to which even US Dem politicians are forced to acquiesce a pro-Israel stance for political expedience rather than any semblence of honest appraisal is astonishing. Most of Europe does not concur. Most of Africa does not concur. Most of South America does not concur. A large part of Asia does not concur.

But you think the Goldstone report and all similar criticism of Israel is widely dismissed because politicians representing 3% of the earths population say so? Good God man, thats comical. The hundreds of GA resolutions in the UN condemning Israels disproportionate response to both legitimate Palestinian resistance and less defensible Palestinian actions represent the opinions of the WORLD. Arab and Muslim countries represent a minority of the representation at the UN. The most stunning aspect of unquestioning US support is the appearance of a basic deficiency in math, especially when the opinions of a tiny fraction of the earth's populace form the base of a claim that the report has been "written off".

Coupled with Netenyahu's own acknowledgement that its a PR disaster for the state (heaven forbid he admit its simply a fairly accurate account of an man-made humanitarian disaster), the poster above appears to be disagreeing with the government of Israel itself. lol.

[cqo_000]

5. Earth to Israel

nevermind your rebuttal, just get busy on that independent investigation because time is running out!

[damyank913]

7. I find this story very disturbing...

from both sides of this issue. 1st that Hamas gets a pass on their conduct which is despicable. 2nd that Israel probably committed these hideous acts. Also despicable.
As long as religious fanaticism rules the day there will never be piece anywhere.

[shira]

8. Hamas fighters hid in basement of media building...

"Colleagues in our sister organisation, Russia Al Yaum, said Hamas fighters had been hiding in the basement of the media building and they couldn't go on air and admit it as otherwise they would have become targets. So, in this respect at least, when the Israeli army justified its attacks on media houses, they were telling the truth when they said fire was coming from them!"

http://blog.newshound.biz/?p=137

Hamas fires from foreign Press building in Gaza January 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY50cktUKbA&feature=player_embedded

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Did you notice that 'newshound' called a human shield a go-between?

And that the man merely 'seemed' traumatised by the destruction the IDF had wrought in his area?

Why would anyone in their right mind take such complete rubbish seriously?

[shira]

9. GENEALOGY OF THE “GOLDSTONE REPORT” (Richard Landes)

In order to understand how the Goldstone Report, with all its pervasive flaws, came into existence, one must first appreciate the culture from which it arose. The pattern is largely as follows: Palestinians create alleged facts or information--often through the formal reports, and finally it makes up most of the Goldstone report, without any real critical evaluation taking place at any step in the process.

Media Coverage, Gaza War 1.0

The Gaza operation garnered immediate and sustained attention from all Western news outlets. Due to a controversial decision by the Israelis not to allow journalists in through their border crossings, much of what happened on the ground was accessible only through Gazan journalists such as Rushdi Abu Aluf (BBC), Hazem Balousha (The Guardian), Taghreed El-Khodary (New York Times), and Talal Abu Rahmeh (CNN, France 2), who dutifully reported on hospitals running out of medicine even as Hamas refused to allow Egyptian doctors and ambulances as well as Qatari medical supplies to come across the border.<1>

Gazan “medical officials,” which is often merely another way of referring to Hamas spokesmen on these issues, insisted there had been great carnage and Palestinian-held cameras showed shocking glimpses of desperate hospitals overwhelmed by victims, with special attention to women and children. UN representatives, NGO workers, and free-lancers--such as the Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert--all emphasized the high civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis.<2>

MUCH MORE....
http://www.gloria-center.org/meria/2009/12/landes2.html

[Scurrilous]

12. Minister Edelstein: Goldstone Report anti-Semitic

Peres in Berlin, Netanyahu in Auschwitz, Lieberman in Budapest and Edelstein at UN headquarters in New York all plan attack UN report into Gaza war on International Holocaust Day. 'It's not an easy connection, but we must learn the lessons from what happened,' information minister tells Ynet

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3839044,00.html

<snip>

"Israel to launch attack on Goldstone Report on Holocaust Day. The world will mark International Holocaust Day on Wednesday. Monday will see President Shimon Peres fly to Berlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leave for a visit to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. They will be joined by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Budapest and Information Minister Yuli Edelstein in New York.

Before meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Edelstein referred to the report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, calling it "anti-Semitic."

Israel's political echelon plans to slam then distortions in the Goldstone Report on International Holocaust Day of all days, in order to point to an anti-Semitic trend which blames the victims of Palestinian rockets.

The information minister is expected to tell the UN chief that the report "must not be an expression of the new anti-Semitism, which is directed at Israel's soldiers."

[azurnoir]

13. On Holocaust Day?

not trying to yank the guilt change a little are they?

[Violet_Crumble]

15. It's a rather revolting tactic. The Holocaust shouldn't be politicised this way at all...

I don't care who's trying to do it, Israel or the Palestinians. It's wrong...

[Scurrilous]

14. Israel to shun UN call for Gaza probe: minister

<snip>

"Israel has told UN chief Ban Ki-moon it will reject a UN demand to carry out a probe into allegations the Jewish state committed war crimes during the Gaza war, a minister said on Tuesday.

"Israel has no intention of creating a verification commission," Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein told Israel public radio from New York a day after meeting the UN secretary general.

Edelstein, who was to present Israel's rebuttal to the so-called Goldstone report on Thursday, said he informed Ban of his country's intention during the meeting late Monday.

But the respected newspaper Haaretz said Israel might agree to set up a limited inquiry to deflect some of the massive international criticism over the offensive that killed 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis in three weeks just over one year ago.

Such a committee would review the Israeli army's internal investigations and examine whether there was any basis to one of the charges of a UN report that said the war was planned as punitive action against Gaza's civilians, the daily said."

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Israel mulls internal probe of Gaza war

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1145196.html

[Jefferson23]

16. From Israel mulls probe of Gaza war:

"The intention is to include on the panel Israeli jurists with international standing and perhaps also an international jurist. One name that has been mentioned in discussions is Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz." ROFL