Ed. I am not at all su
rprised to find out that the Goldstone Report was wrong. Hasty investigations are likely to be rushed judgments.
“We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” Richard Goldstone
The sad part of all this is the contrast with Hamas. Imagine the huge impact if Hamas responded to the charges against it by an internal investigation? Imagine if Hamas admitted its war crimes or was able, mirabile dictu, to show that these were not crimes of its government but of a badly disciplined minority?
Such truths by both sides could serve a basis for peace. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no Palestinian equivalent to Israel’s rule of law or to Israel’s vocal movement for peace.
from Huffington Post: JERUSALEM —
The head of a U.N.-appointed expert panel that investigated the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas in the winter of 2008-2009 said in a newspaper article that new accounts by Israel’s military indicate that it did not deliberately target civilians, his report’s central and most inflammatory accusation.
Israel’s prime minister said the military was vindicated by Richard Goldstone’s acknowledgment in an op-ed piece published Friday by The Washington Post that his conclusion appeared to have been wrong. The Goldstone Report’s findings, released in September 2009, triggered outrage in Israel, which refused to cooperate with the investigation on the grounds that the panel he led was biased. More at NY TIMES