Monday, October 26, 2009

Another One Of Those Rebuttals That Judge Goldstone Says Does Not Exist

The Israel Project describes itself as
an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace. The Israel Project provides journalists, leaders and opinion-makers accurate information about Israel. The Israel Project is not related to any government or government agency.
Below, besides refuting 2 key findings of the Goldstone Commission Report, The Israel Project provides links to the videos of Hamas using human shields--videos of Hamas doing the things that the Goldstone Report claims there is no proof for.

Investigators Say Goldstone Report Biased, Unfairly Attacks Israel
Press Resources for the Goldstone Commission on Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces top foreign media spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich is available for one-on-one interviews on the Goldstone report. Please Contact Marty Irom at iromartin@aol.com or (516) 567-4348 to arrange an interview.

Interview with PM Netanyahu on CNN’s “Late Edition” (watch video, read transcript)


Iran Press Kit

Videos: Hamas’ Use of Civilians as Human Shields
Experts for Comment (Israeli Officials, Legal Experts, IDF Reserve Officers)
President Shimon Peres Response to Goldstone Report
PM Netanyahu's remarks at the start of today's Cabinet meeting
MFA officials brief ambassadors, foreign press on Goldstone Report
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Response to Goldstone Report
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website on the Goldstone Report

JewishJournal.com: Should Jews care about the Goldstone report?
The Guardian: A moral Atrocity
The Wall Street Journal - Israel Defense Minister: At the U.N., Terrorism Pays
The Wall Street Journal Editorial: The U.N.'s Anti-Antiterror Report
The Boston Globe - Israel Ambassador to the U.S.: UN report a victory for terror
The Wall Street Journal: UN Smears Israeli Self-Defense as 'War Crimes'
The Jerusalem Post: UN apathy, Iranian intransigence
LA Times: Goldstone Report Unfair to Israel

Outside analysts examining the UN’s Goldstone report on Israel’s operation in Gaza, published on Sept. 15, have criticized the report for its methodology and findings, including charges by the U.S. State Department that the mandate for the investigation was one-sided and focused overwhelmingly on Israel.[1]

Israel carried out the operation from late December 2008 – mid-January 2009 to put a stop to almost constant rocket and mortar attacks on Israel fired by Iran-backed Hamas into Israel – specifically to target civilians – for the past decade. Since 2003, Hamas has fired 9,400 rockets and mortars at Israel.[2]

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has highlighted some of the most troubling aspects of the report, such as inconsistencies in the report’s findings when compared to independent evidence; political bias of some of the investigators; and the mandate of the mission itself.[3] The methodological problems include:

1. The investigators did not ask Palestinian witnesses any questions relating to Palestinian terrorist activity and storage of weapons in civilian infrastructures.[4]

2. The report itself states that witnesses were unwilling to discuss “the presence or conduct of hostilities by the Palestinian armed groups,” possibly due to “a fear of reprisals.”[5]

3. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs alleges that the incidents investigated by the Goldstone team were “cherry-picked” for political effect.[6] For example, in spite of a number of sources alleging that senior Hamas officials used Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as a base of operations, the Goldstone team chose not to investigate these reports.[7]

Examples of questionable findings:

1. The Goldstone team investigated an incident in which the Al-Quds hospital in the Tel el-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City was shelled on Jan. 15. The report concluded that there weren’t any members of Palestinian terrorist groups in the hospital and that the shelling was a war crime.[8]

But a report in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted a resident of the neighborhood as saying, “The Hamas gunmen had taken refuge mainly in the building that houses the administrative offices of Al-Quds…nurses were forced to take off their uniforms so they [the gunmen] could blend better and escape the Israeli snipers.”[9]

2. The report stated that the Goldstone investigators were unable to determine whether mosques had been used by Hamas operatives for weapons storage and to stage attacks, but only investigated one such case. However, video evidence [below] and widespread reports about those and other unlawful tactics are readily available in the public domain.[10]

Videos: Hamas’ Use of Civilians as Human Shields

Jan. 8, 2009 - Footage of Hamas operatives arming a rocket launcher in a school yard in Gaza.

Jan. 6, 2009 - Footage of a terrorist shooting from a rooftop. The terrorist then identifies an Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft preparing to fire on him and calls a group of children into the house where he is located to prevent the IAF strike. He then flees the house using the children as cover.

Jan. 12, 2009 - Footage of terrorists, one a senior operative, using children and a woman with a baby as human shields. Footage includes IAF radio communications instructing the aircraft operator not to fire on the terrorists because of the woman and children among them.

Dec. 27, 2008 - Footage of a civilian building in which weapons and explosives were being stored. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) telephoned the residents of the building, telling them to leave so they would not be harmed by the planned airstrike. Numerous civilians appear on the rooftop to prevent the airstrike, which the IDF called off as a result.

Videos illustrating:

  • Storage of anti-aircraft gun and heavy weapons cache in a local mosque in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza
  • Hamas using civilians to carry out military actions
  • A mortar launcher located at a Gaza schoolyard
  • Weapons found in civilian homes in Gaza
  • Humanitarian aid being blockaded and stolen by Hamas before it reaches Gaza
  • Mortar shells launched from the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun

Facts Related to Israel’s Gaza Operation and the Goldstone Commission

Experts for Comment (in Israel unless otherwise indicated)
Israeli Officials

U.S.-based

Jonathan Peled
Spokesman, Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C.
E-mail: sp@washington.mfa.gov.il

H.E. Gabriela Shalev
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations
Contact through spokeswoman Mirit Cohen at
Israel-based

Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich
Head of IDF International Media Branch

Yigal Palmor
Spokesman, Israeli Foreign Ministry
E-mail: palmor@mfa.gov.il

Legal Experts

Col. Richard Kemp (in the United Kingdom)
Former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan
E-mail: richard.kemp@hotmail.co.uk

Dr. Avi Bell
Lecturer in international law and laws of war at Bar Ilan University

Lt.-Col. -Colonel (Res.) David Benjamin
Former senior legal adviser in the IDF Legal Department

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Amos Guiora (currently in the United States)
Professor of law at The S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
Former Lt. Col in the IDF Judge Advocate General's Corps, Legal Advisor to the Gaza Strip, Commander of the IDF School of Military Law and Judge Advocate for the Navy and Home Front Command
E-mail: guioraa@law.utah.edu

Reserve IDF Officers and Soldiers who Fought in Israel’s Defensive Operation in Gaza

Lt.-Col. (Res.) Bentzi Gruber
Deputy Brigade Commander in IDF Tank Corps

Maj. Idan Zuaretz
Company Commander in IDF Givati Brigade

Sgt. First Class (Res.) Gidon Rosenfeld (Givati Commando Unit)
E-mail: gidonr1@gmail.com

Sgt. First Class Haim Goldstein (Givati Commando Unit)
E-mail: gohaim@gmail.com

Footnotes

[1] “Remarks To the Press,” U.S. Department of State, Sept. 18, 2009, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/sept/129371.htm

[2] IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Dec. 19, 2008; “Iran-backed Terrorists in Gaza Kill 3, Wound Others in Continuing Rocket Attacks on Israel,” The Israel Project press release, Dec. 29, 2008, http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=3587015&content_id={4F0CF025-98BF-4875-A59B-B1F5E4B079F7}¬oc=1; Barzak, Ibrahim and Friedman, Matti, “Israel rejects truce call, pursues bombing Gaza,” Associated Press, Dec. 31, 2008, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95DQIEO0

[3] “Initial Response To Report Of The Fact Finding Mission On Gaza Established Pursuant To Resolution S-9/1 Of The Human Rights Council,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 24, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/FC985702-61C4-41C9-8B72-E3876FEF0ACA/0/GoldstoneReportInitialResponse240909.pdf

[4] “Initial Response To Report Of The Fact Finding Mission On Gaza Established Pursuant To Resolution S-9/1 Of The Human Rights Council,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 24, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/FC985702-61C4-41C9-8B72-E3876FEF0ACA/0/GoldstoneReportInitialResponse240909.pdf

[5] “Initial Response To Report Of The Fact Finding Mission On Gaza Established Pursuant To Resolution S-9/1 Of The Human Rights Council,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 24, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/FC985702-61C4-41C9-8B72-E3876FEF0ACA/0/GoldstoneReportInitialResponse240909.pdf

[6] “Initial Response To Report Of The Fact Finding Mission On Gaza Established Pursuant To Resolution S-9/1 Of The Human Rights Council,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 24, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/FC985702-61C4-41C9-8B72-E3876FEF0ACA/0/GoldstoneReportInitialResponse240909.pdf

[7] “Initial Response To Report Of The Fact Finding Mission On Gaza Established Pursuant To Resolution S-9/1 Of The Human Rights Council,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 24, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/FC985702-61C4-41C9-8B72-E3876FEF0ACA/0/GoldstoneReportInitialResponse240909.pdf

[8] “Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict,” Web site of the UN’s Human Rights Council, Sept. 15, 2009, p.174-182 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

[9] “Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict,” Web site of the UN’s Human Rights Council, Sept. 15, 2009, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf; "The Operation in Gaza, 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009, Factual and Legal Aspects," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 2009, p. 65, http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/E89E699D-A435-491B-B2D0-017675DAFEF7/0/GazaOperationwLinks.pdf

[10] “Weapons in Gaza Mosque Struck by Israel Air Force 1 Jan. 2009,” Israel Defence Forces YouTube channel, Jan. 1, 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwP_LusgPAw&feature=channel_page

The Israel Project is an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace. The Israel Project provides journalists, leaders and opinion-makers accurate information about Israel. The Israel Project is not related to any government or government agency.

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