UN investigators stand by Goldstone report
Last Updated on Friday, 15 April 2011 21:54 Friday, 15 April 2011 21:19
Three UN investigators have stood by the conclusions of a report into human rights abuses by Israel and Hamas during Operation Cast Lead, a military operation launched by Israel in December 2008 and finished in January 2009. The report found several instances where Israel had committed acts "not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly." Other acts by Israel, like targeting policemen, bombing hospitals, UN compounds and schools that sheltered civilians from the fighting, violated international humanitarian law and were war crimes.
The Goldstone report "concludes that the Israeli armed forces violated the requirement under customary international law to take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and method of attack with a view to avoiding and in any event minimizing incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects."
Hamas was no less innocent. While the Goldstone report found there was no evidence to suggest it had used hospitals, UN compounds, ambulances and schools to shelter weapons or combatants, fighting in the vicinity of same exploited civilians and placed them in danger. The indiscriminate firing of rockets and mortars into residential areas required no explanation and was a blatant and willing war crime.
In short, the Goldstone report found violations of international humanitarian law on both sides. It was scathing of Israel's conduct and disregard for civilian life, their blockade of Gaza and the prevention of basic humanitarian supplies from reaching the region, both before, during and after the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead.
Israel refused to co-operate with the investigation and Goldstone documented several instances where those who were co-operating with it were detained, blocked and refused visas to travel in an effort to disrupt the workings of the inquiry.
Read the Goldstone Report here in PDF format.
This week, Justice Richard Goldstone, former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals, penned an article in the Washington Post in which he said that the report's most serious finding against Israel - that it deliberately targeted civilians - may have been wrong.
Israel and America have been pushing hard to have the report's findings cancelled and many are suggesting that Goldstone has been influenced by outside pressure to write the article. In a statement to Britain's Guardian Newspaper, the other three appointed members of the report, Professor Christine Chinkin, Ms. Hina Jilani and Colonel Desmond Travers - all distinguished in their careers, said there was "no justification" for calls to reconsider the report's findings.
America has displayed its now normal lack of moral principles in backing Israel's conduct during the war and sinks ever lower in the eyes of reasonable people as it attempts to justify Israel's use of white phosphorous shells and the bombing of hospitals and schools. Israel even launched an attack on a UN compound over the course of several hours, despite repeated calls from the UN over what Israeli armed forces were engaged in.
Susan Rice, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said she wanted the report "to disappear and no longer be a subject of discussion and debate in the Human Rights Council or the General Assembly or beyond." Evidently, sweeping war crimes under the carpet is now a U.S. policy.
It is inconceivable to many that their government should chose to lecture Gadaffi in Libya on targeting civilians with his artillery and turn a blind eye when Israel engages in the exact same technique. It is incompressible that the government should support Israel and its tactics throughout Operation Cast Lead while deploring the use of the very same tactics by other rogue states.
By being blind to Israel's actions in the Middle East, the U.S. loses more of its moral authority in the world. It is no longer viewed as the beacon of freedom it once was. Every time Israel commits an abuse, it washes away the relationships built by U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every time Israel bulldozes a home, it cancels out the positive donations Americans give to support reconstruction efforts in Gaza and throughout the middle east. The government's determination to support Israel no matter what it does and how it does it is one of the greatest mistakes America has made and casts America into the role of oppressor for many in the middle east. Instead of looking up to America for the freedom it espouses, millions of people only experience the oppression of Israel fully backed by America.
It is long past time for America to once again act as a beacon of freedom in the world rather than acting in a corrupting fashion as they have done with the Goldstone report. That doesn't mean cutting all ties with Israel. It does mean accepting the findings of the report and being outspoken and honest on the war crimes committed by both sides in the conflict. For many who lost loved ones in the conflict, it would be a small token of recognition and a reminder that America stands on the side of freedom and justice. As the three members of the investigation wrote, "any attempt to backtrack on their report amounted to yielding to outside pressure, and that doing so would deprive the victims of justice."
