The investigation’s mandate was so structurally one-sided that Mary Robinson – the woman who oversaw the Durban I hatefest – avoided it lest she grant it her imprimatur. First the UN picked a time window that excluded the Palestinian rocket attacks which led to the war. Then, just in case any Palestinian war crime slipped through, they precluded the investigators from looking into much except “Israeli war crimes.”
Goldstone took the job anyway, bringing his reputation and his Judaism to bear on legitimizing the predetermined anti-Israel slander. He actually invoked his personal views on the Holocaust as a reason to take the report seriously. Apparently the trauma of historical anti-Jewish persecution – totally forbidden as a reason for supporting Israel – is a laudatory ethical basis for trashing it. Cue sneering anti-Israel partisan Stephen Walt:
It was disappointing that the Obama administration felt it had to denounce the report within days of its release, despite Goldstone’s impeccable credentials (former member of South Africa’s Constitutional Court and chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Bosnia and Rwanda) and his strong Zionist convictions. Israeli PM Netanyahu hasn’t been doing Obama any favors of late, and the release of the report would have been a golden opportunity for Obama to play a little hardball and remind him that stiffing your principal patron has a price.
Elder of Ziyon has been compiling a seemingly unending list of Goldstone inaccuracies. He’s currently on #18 and probably has at least a dozen to go (not exactly a surprise since the report has to make biased and untrue libels seem objective and tenable, which isn’t straightforward).
His post about how “the Mission found no evidence that members of Palestinian armed groups engaged in combat in civilian dress” is as brutal as Israel Matzav’s post is thorough. Israel Matzav’s goes on for pages and pages, with photographs and videos specifically debunking Goldstone paragraph by paragraph. It’s a really impressive take down, though in all honesty it’s probably kind of a gimme.
More entertaining: Elder’s discovery that Goldstone uncritically relied on a Palestinian who thinks Israel is infecting Gaza with sex gum.
And as far as structural bias is concerned – time window, mandate, etc – the recent post about how Goldstone condemned the Gaza blockade but excluded the reasons for it is to the point. There was no way to make the investigation fair. There was only a way to make it seem fair, which is what Goldstone tried and is trying to do. And now his daughter wants Israel to thank him for it:
Had Richard Goldstone not served as the head of the UN inquiry into the Gaza war, the accusations against Israel would have been harsher, Goldstone’s daughter, Nicole, said… “My father took on this job because he thought he is doing the best thing for peace, for everyone, and also for Israel,” Nicole Goldstone told Army Radio…. “It wasn’t easy [for him],” Nicole Goldstone said. “My father did not expect to see and hear what he saw and heard.” Nicole Goldstone, who currently lives in Canada with her family, spoke of her great love for Israel. “Every time I dream of returning to the country or that my son will one day immigrate there,” she told Army Radio.
I don’t know why she would want her son to move to such an ostensibly horrible place. But I’m beginning to see why Diaspora Jews felt the need to invent the word chutzpa.
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* Mary Robinson says to listen Goldstone anyway [Israel Matzav]
* Goldstone: Holocaust shaped view on war crimes [Ha'aretz]
* On the Goldstone report [Walt]
* Goldstone report inaccuracies part 5 [Elder of Ziyon]
* The Goldstone Commission on human shields: Lies and damned lies [Israel Matzav]
* Human Rights Watch Earns Their Saudi Pay, Publishes Another Thinly-Sourced Report Demonizing Israel (UPDATE: Video Of Hamas Soldiers Hiding Behind White Flags) [MR]
* Goldstone Report inaccuracies, part 16 [Elder of Ziyon]
* Goldstone report inaccuracies part 18 [Elder of Ziyon]
* Goldstone’s daughter: My father’s participation softened UN Gaza report [Ha'aretz]
Previously:
* HRW Suspends Their Nazi Obsessed Anti-Israel Investigator, Keeps Rest Of Anti-Israel Team Intact (Plus: Entertaining Garlasco-Related Hate Mail)
* Human Rights Watch Shill Has Meltdown – Rants About “Sharanskys Of The World,” Dares Critics To Find “One Incident” Of HRW Bias (UPDATED: Nasrallah Bragged About Using Human Shields)
* MSM Outlets Pretty Psyched About Girl “Seeking Justice For Gaza” At ICC
