Posts Tagged ‘Goldstone Report’
In December 2008 and January 2009, Israel went on a defensive military strike into Gaza, because it was impossible to live with the massive rocket firing from there into Israel territory. This was called by us “Operation Cast Lead”. There were of course, as in all military actions, casualties on both side, and after Arab complaints, the United Nations Human Rights Council insisted on a fact-finding mission and appointed a South African jurist, Richard Goldstone, to make a report if Israel (or Hamas) were guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. It is interesting to note, that Libya (with its dictator Kadaffi) was a member of the UN Human Rights Council.The Goldstone report was completely one-sided, because he took into account only all the lies spread by Hamas and it accused Israel of intentionally targeting civilians and other war crimes. But now, after two years, Judge Goldstone has come to the conclusion that he had been wrong. He wrote a letter which was published in the Washington Post , saying that had he known then what he knows now the report would have been different. He tried to explain this by complaining about Israel’s lack of cooperation with his investigation, but he knows well that his inquiry had been constructed by the obsessively anti-Israel Human Rights Council with the precise intention of blackening Israel’s name, legitimizing its enemies and reducing its capacity to defend itself in future conflicts and these may come in the near future if the current increase in Hamas rocket fire continues.President Shimon Peres said that Goldstone should apologize to the State of Israel for accusing it of war crimes.Prime Minister Natanyahu said,” Everything we said has proven true, Israel did not intentionally harm civilians. Our institution and investigative bodies are worthy, while Hamas intentionally fired upon innocent civilians and did not examine anything (and their terrorists hid behind their own citizens), Israel has investigated its actions, whilst Hamas has done nothing. The fact that Goldstone backtracked must lead to the shelving of his report once and for all”.And Defence Minister Ehud Barak who held that post also during Operation Cast Lead, said that Goldstone should send his new conclusions to the same international forum in which he published his twisted and nonfactual report. But of course the UN Human Rights Council is not interested in reopening the case. And strangely enough many American and European newspapers haven’t even mentioned the new facts about the former Goldstone report.With these words I end today’s blog. Shalom from Irene
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Tags: A new bill concerning Israelis living abroad is to be presented in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) this coming week. This bill, if passed, will enable expatriate Israelis to vote abroad in coming elections, and naturally there are different opinions on this subject. As far as I can gather, most citizens here (I too) are opposed to it, saying rightly that people who leave the country, who bear none of its burdens, pay no taxes, don’t serve in the army should not be the ones who decide what happens here.
The “Likud” and “Israel Beiteinu” parties are for this new law, whilst “Shas” and “Labour” oppose this bill, saying there are a huge number of ex- Israelis living in countries all over the world who no longer have any connection with Israel.The current version of the legislation, would allow any Israeli passport-holder around the world to vote. But evidently Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wants first to consult other coelition parties about how to diminish the bill’s scope. “People who live abroad and don’t intend to come back within a reasonable period of time should not decide our fate,” Netanyahu said,”But there are people who are abroad temporarily, and they shouldn’t be punished for it. The period of time for expatriates to be allowed to be abroad while maintaining the right to vote should be four to six years, enough to allow them to obtain two academic degrees.” He also suggested that expatriates be required to visit Israel to prove their connection to the state.” Well, we’ll have to wait and see how the Knesset voting will go.
In recent days, both Israel and the Palestinians presented documents to the UN General Assembly to show they had made suitable investigations into what happened during the Gaza War.But how ridiculous can statements be, and still be believed. The terrorist Hamas organisation sent a document concerning the war last year, saying that they were sorry if innocent civilians had been hurt by them at any time because they had only been shooting at military targets! Sorry indeed! Not only had they shot thousands of rockets indiscriminately into civilian towns, sent suicide bombers to kill people, but even two days ago and I’ve just heard on the news that today also they sent another Kassam rocket into a civilian area. And now they pretend otherwise!!And as asked for in response to the Goldstone report, Israel also presented the United Nations with a document concerning our investigation into the war and we told the truth and how unbalanced the Goldstone report is. Yes, civilians had been hurt in the war, but mostly only because the Hamas terrorists deliberately put Palestinian civilians in harm’s way in order to shield its fighters and to exploit international pressure on Israel over civilian deaths. They were hiding in their buildings and shooting from public institutions.In particular, the report vehemently denied that Israel intentionally struck water wells in Namar, or the wastewater plant in Gaza City: “Standing orders issued through the Gaza operation strictly forbade any acts damaging water installations,” and the military advocate-general found no credible evidence to suggest otherwise. In fact, “The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) made significant efforts to ensure that the population of Gaza had a sufficient and continuous water supply.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said last week that the Goldstone report was distorted, false and biased. The Israeli response, he added, “again illustrates that the IDF is a uniquely responsible and serious military, that operates in a moral and accurate manner even under impossible conditions.”
A senior Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was assasinated in Dubai a few days ago, and of course the Arabs accuse Israel of this deed and threaten revenge. Hamas is now considering different retaliatory courses of action, among them the possibility of an attack against Israeli targets abroad, although their spokesman said, the area had not yet been decided on. We’ll have to wait and see what they will do, even though Israel has not admitted to this assasination.And yesterday two barrels packed with 15 kg. of explosives each, washed up on beaches in the southern towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon, in what security sources said was a carefully planned and coordinated terrorist attack coming from Gaza and targeting Israeli ships, ports and naval bases. A massive search of the coastline in the area, backed by helicopters was launched and the public was ordered to avoid all beaches between Ashdod and Gaza until further notice, fearing that more explosive barrels could turn up.
This is a letter written by Dr. David Altman of the Netanya Academic College. He has given me written permission to use it and his name in my blog. I have shortened it slightly but left in all important points. Shalom, Irene
To the honourable Justice Richard Goldstone September 17. 2009
Your Honour,
What was in your mind, Justice Goldstone, when you became the emissary of the world’s most intractable states? What were you thinking of when you became the representative of Sudan, Syria and Libya? Sudan – a country that on a daily basis commits genocide as the world stands by, silent. Libya – a country that has no democracy and no human rights, a country that sentences innocent people to death on trumped-up charges, that sends terrorists to blow up a plane carrying hundreds of passengers, that sends terrorist ships to attack cities and innocent people in Israel. And Syria, where people have been butchered extra-judicially and without trial, a state that supports terror and the murder of individuals, joins these two in an unholy alliance.
What was in your mind, when there is a deafening silence in the face of the slaughter in Darfur, in the face of the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Sri Lanka, in the face of those killing their brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq, without any reaction from the world? What were you thinking of when they gave you a remit to investigate crimes committed by a life-affirming democratic state?
What we wish to say to you, sir, is that you are a rebellious son of a great people. We are a life-affirming nation. We are a people that loves peace and hates war. We are a people that has proven that it is ready to do much for the sake of peace and to pay a heavy price, unlike all those who surround us and desire war.Wars have always been imposed upon us, and when we have taken up arms, it has always been with tears in our eyes and out of concern for ourselves and our fellow man.We respect the rules of war – both those that have been laid down by mankind, and those that have been dictated to us by the Creator.
Today I’ll begin with a small local incident which concerns motor-cyclists. There have evidently been a very much greater number of traffic accidents involving motorcycles lately and the insurance companies are raising their fees. This has created a great outcry by motor cycle owners, saying that their cycles cost less than the insurance,(they forgot to mention that insurance also included medical fees connected to accidents) they are mostly students and not wealthy people using them, and they started demonstrating in many parts of the country. They drove slowly in large groups and held up the other traffic, causing the police much work in getting things moving. We still don’t know what the outcome of the higher insurance rates will be. The motorcyclists haven’t given up yet.Our former Prime minister Tzipi Livni visited the USA last week, and spoke at an event at Yale university, where she was honoured as a Chubb Fellow, the highest honour awarded by the university to foreigners for their work and inspiration. I am glad to say that she also found words concerning the Goldstone UN fact-finding mission report on “Operation Cast Lead”, and criticized it for comparing Israeli soldiers with terrorists. Livni said that is was important to distinguish between those who aim to murder children in their homes and those who unintentionally harm civilians who are used by terrorists as human shields. Every judgment of Israel that overlooks these differences and draws these comparisons is wrong, misleading and holds a double standard, Livni emphasized. I hope the UN will understand this when they start discussing Israel’s “so-called war crimes”.