The Goldstone Commission: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Gaza

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Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns
Old situations, new complications
Nothing portentous or polite
Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum


We start at the UN, where--on January 12, 2009, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution. It's stated purpose was to address the Gaza War, and it provides that mandate for Judge Richard Goldstone to go on his fact-finding mission to Gaza.

Just to give you an idea of where the resolution was aimed, consider the following:

• Hamas is not mentioned by name
• There is no mention of Sderot
• There is no reference to Kassam rockets (though there is a reference to 'crude rockets')
• The word terror, terrorism, or terrorists are not used
• There are 9 references to "the occupying Power, Israel"

Apparently someone forgot to tell the UN that Israel left Gaza.
You can see where this is going.
Considering the obvious bias in the resolution, it is not surprising to see that the resolution:

Calls for the immediate cessation of Israeli military attacks throughout the Palestinian Occupied Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, which to date have resulted in the killing of more than nine hundred and injury to more than four thousand Palestinians, including a large number of women and children, and the end to the launching of crude rockets against Israeli civilians, which have resulted in the loss of four civilian lives and some injuries;

While you will have no problem finding paragraphs that condemn Israel, you will have to read carefully to find the reference (written in the passive) to the bombs launched against Israel.

Nor is there any mention that in December 2008, the number of rockets that had been fired at Israel from Gaza had surpassed 10,000 over an 8 year period.

If you read very carefully, you will even find a second mention of the attacks by Palestinian terrorists:

10. Urges all parties concerned to respect the rules of international human rights law and international humanitarian law and to refrain from violence against the civilian population

Again, the resolution fails to outright condemn Palestinian attacks.

When the resolution authorizes a fact finding mission to Gaza, we are not surprised to see that according to the resolution that defines the purpose of the Goldstone Commission, the mandate is to investigate only Israel:

14. Decides to dispatch an urgent, independent international fact-finding mission, to be appointed by the President of the Council, to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression, and calls upon Israel not to obstruct the process of investigation and to fully cooperate with the mission;

There is a general rule in Jewish Law--"Kol hayotzei min hatahor tahor, vichol hayotzei min hatamei tamei":

Derivatives from a Kosher species are Kosher, while derivatives from a non-Kosher species are not. Therefore, milk produced by Kosher mammals, such as cows, goats, and sheep, are considered Kosher, while milk from non-Kosher mammals, such as horses, pigs, camels, or whales, are forbidden.

The resolution itself is not Kosher--it is biased to an enormous degree that cannot help but cause any resultant action taken to be equally perverted.

So we should not be surprised that as a result of this non-binding resolution, instead of returning just with the facts, Judge Richard Goldstone instead returns with recommendations as well:

It recommended that the UN Security Council require Israel to report to it, within six months, on investigations and prosecutions it should carry out with regard to the violations identified in its Report. The Mission further recommends that the Security Council set up a body of independent experts to report to it on the progress of the Israeli investigations and prosecutions. If the experts' reports do not indicate within six months that good faith, independent proceedings are taking place, the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the ICC Prosecutor. The Mission recommends that the same independent expert body also report to the Security Council on proceedings undertaken by the relevant Gaza authorities with regard to crimes committed by the Palestinian side. As in the case of Israel, if within six months there are no good faith independent proceedings conforming to international standards in place, the Council should refer the situation to the ICC Prosecutor.

Somehow, on the way to Gaza, the mandate of the Goldstone magically changed to one of fact-finding to one authorized to go much further.

One of the recommendations is to recommend that Israel investigate and prosecute based on the alleged violations the Goldstone Commission claims they found. For good measure, they throw in that Hamas should do the same.

In the interests of evenhandedness, Israel is equated with Hamas!
Think about that for a moment:

The Hamas strategy, unlike Israel, is clearly to create as much collateral damage as possible. Perhaps if the Goldstone took as much care to substantiate the number of actual Palestinian civilians killed as opposed to terrorists dressed as civilians, they would see the difference. Hamas leaders hide in hospital basements and leave Gazans without bomb shelters, without regard to casualties, knowing that it will again bring Israel into the sites of 'Human Rights community'.
By Goldstone giving Hamas a free pass in their treatment of Gazans, who in fact is creating the potential for more casualties?

Israel already investigated Operation Cast Lead and has issued a report. Hamas did not. This is absured--just what kind of moral equivalency is Judge Goldstone proposing?

There are a number of other issues to be taken with Goldstone's flawed report.
For instance, check out Elder of Ziyon, who has been skimming the full report and has posted:
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 1
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 2
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 3
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 4
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 5
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 6
Goldstone report inaccuracies part 7

Israel Matzav is similarly unimpressed with the report: The Goldstone Commission on human shields: Lies and damned lies

Also check out Israellycool, who has a survey of reaction to the report--including a video clip of Goldstone's response to Israel's dismissal of his report during an interview with Al Jazeera.

And there are other problems with the Goldstone Commission Report as well.
There is a lot more to say.

Bottom line: what does the Goldstone Commision have in common with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum?

Both have Zero.

Crossosted at Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Hamas and Operation Cast Lead and Goldstone Report.