Richard Goldstone Folds (archive)

(archived from April 3, 2011)

by Scott Creighton

Frankly, I don’t care how many Mossad agents threatened the lives of his children, in the end Richard Goldstone has betrayed all of humanity with his pathetic retraction.

I just read Richard Goldstone’s “Reconsidering the Goldstone report on Israel and war crimes” and I have to say that I haven’t seen a more obvious and cowardly betrayal of historical fact… ever. I don’t even think that Donald Rumsfeld’s new book could come close to this in terms of outright revisionist history.

The Goldstone Report has been a thorn in the side of the Zionist rulers of Israel and their apologist corp of internet Megaphonies and propaganda peddlers, since it was published. It’s a stark and candid assessment of the brutality unleashed by Israel on the confined people of Gaza living in what some call the “largest open air prison in the world”. It correctly accused Israel of potential war crimes and crimes against humanity and recommended a full inquiry by the International Criminal Court. The fact that Richard Goldstone turned into a coward after god-knows how many zealots threatened his life, changes nothing.

“The mission finds that the conduct of the Israeli armed forces constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of wilful killings and wilfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such give rise to individual criminal responsibility,” the report’s executive summary said. “It also finds that the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life.”

It went on to criticize the “deliberate and systematic policy on the part of the Israeli armed forces to target industrial sites and water installations,” and the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. UN News Centre

1387 Palestinians died during Operation Cast Lead, the majority of them were civilians who did not take part in combat. According to B’TSelem, and Israeli peace organization, the casualties break down as follows:

• 773 Palestinians died who took no part in any hostilities

• 107 women over the age of 18 were killed

• 60 children under the age of 6 were killed

• 119 children under the age of 11 were killed

• 320 children were killed

• 330 combatants were killed

• Palestinians killed 9 Israelis – 3 civilians, 6 IDF soldiers (4 IDF killed by friendly fire)

Richard Goldstone’s retraction is based on nothing more than Israel’s “independent” investigation they did on themselves – which of course, came to the conclusion that Israel was guilty of nothing and that Israel is the most moral nation in the world.

Goldstone laughably claims that if Israel were to have cooperated with the initial investigation, then the report would have come to a different conclusion. He goes on to claim that since the report came out, Israel has diligently investigated itself and certain “facts” have come to light.

As an example, Goldstone claims that Israel has investigated the shelling of the al-Simouni family home which killed 29 members of the same family. Israel says that an IDF commander “misread” a drone satellite image and that is what caused that little mishap. It’s still “under investigation”, meaning there has been nothing done to this commander by way of a reprimand. Remarkably, this is a good enough excuse for Richard Goldstone.

Nothing was said in Goldstone’s op-ed about the targeting of a mosque during a religious service, but I’m sure that Israel’s “investigations” have led to a similar excuse.

“As an example, he described one such incident: a mortar attack on a mosque in Gaza during a religious service, which killed 15 members of the congregation and injured many others. Justice Goldstone said that even if allegations that the mosque was used as sanctuary by military groups and that weapons were stored there were true, there was still “no justification under international humanitarian law to mortar the mosque during a service,” because it could have been attacked during the night, when it was not being used by civilians.” UN News Centre

There have been dozens of IDF soldiers who have come forward since the Goldstone report was published to tell what they know and saw during Operation Cast Lead. The record of their statements is called “Breaking the Silence” and it’s a must read for anyone who wants a little insight into what happened during that operation. Some of them said that they were told to target civilians because they literally had no one else to target. Their combined testimonials prove that the IDF targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure as policy. There is no denying it.

“The stories of this publication prove that we are not dealing with the failures of individual soldiers, and attest instead to failures in the application of values primarily on a systemic level. The IDF’s depiction of such phenomena as ‘rotten apple’ soldiers is a tactic used to place the responsibility solely on individual soldiers on the ground and to evade taking responsibility for the system’s serious value and command failures. The testimonies of the soldiers in this collection expose that the massive and unprecedented blow to the infrastructure and civilians of the Gaza strip were a direct result of IDF policy, and especially of the rules of engagement, and a cultivation of the notion among soldiers that the reality of war requires them to shoot and not to ask questions.”  Breaking the Silence

Richard Goldstone’s op-ed also goes on to repeat the old standard pro-Israeli slogan that the UN Security Council is biased toward Israel. This of course, is because Israel is constantly committing international crimes like the assassination of a Palestinian in the UAE and the most recent attack on the aid flotilla in which 9 activists died at the hands of IDF special forces. Not to mention the fact that they are still occupying a nation that does not belong to them and keeping its inhabitants living in ghetto-like conditions, not unlike what the Nazis did to jews in Germany. The UN takes the position that Israel shouldn’t be allowed to get away with such atrocities on a daily basis, but since the US keeps vetoing any and all resolutions aimed as resolving these issues, Goldstone and the other Israeli apologists claim “bias” on the part of the UN.

Goldstone even tosses in a condemnation of the killing of the Israeli family, the Fogal family, which he insinuates was done by Palestinians. Three children were killed in their beds and according to a rabbi there “all jewish hearts are breaking”.  This of course was used as justification for more settlements in the West Bank. Goldstone makes no mention of the 320 children killed during Operation Cast Lead; 60 of them were under the age of 6.  Did all the jewish hearts break for those children? Or are Palestinian children somehow different?

Goldstone also forgets to mention that an Asian worker is suspected of committing the crime.

As you can see, Goldstone’s pathetic retraction is based on nothing more than the IDF’s PR spin and the same old lame propaganda Israel and her apologists have been using for decades.  But that won’t stop those Megaphonies from screeching to the heavens about how Israel’s actions during Operation Cast Lead have been justified. This just guarantees that Israel will continue its brutal policies toward Palestine or Lebanon or anyone else they feel they have the right to attack indiscriminately. Maybe even Israelis.

“Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, has passed a law which would enable the court system to revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted of spying, treason or helping the enemy during times of war.

The bill, which was passed by 37 to 11 at a late-night session on Monday, was initiated by two Knesset members (MKs) from the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

The new legislation empowers the Israeli court system to revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted on charges of “terrorism,” espionage, helping the enemy during time of war or any other act which harms national sovereignty.

“Without loyalty, there can be no citizenship,” Lieberman said just minutes after the bill was passed, in comments reported by the Jerusalem Post. “Any person who harms the country cannot enjoy the benefits of citizenship and its fruit.”  AFP

Without loyalty, there can be no citizenship. This is the mantra of the fascist state. Regardless of what Goldstone says, regardless of him worrying about his loyalty being questioned, his report stands as is; a thorough indictment of Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It doesn’t matter what Goldstone has been pressured or threatened to say, we have moved beyond that. The truth is not negotiable.