Goldstone admits his 2009 Report on Gaza to UNHRC was wrong

Goldstone admits his 2009 Report on Gaza to UN HRC was wrong
Letter to the Editor, The Washington Post  -  April 3, 2011

Re: Reconsidering the Goldstone Report - April 1, 2011

Dear Sir; 

Justice Goldstone’s present 'Reconsideration' is a courageous first step, but he has to do much more to repair at least some of the huge damage his Report's twisted methodology and the undeserved credit he granted to all enemies of Israel caused to the Israeli people. For an example, to correct that, in  2009 we, Take-A-Pen, an international volunteer organization, submitted two well-researched and fully documented Submissions to the Goldstone-committee and to him personally. He had this evidence in hand but he never used it, what mounts to suppression of evidence.   Until this and many other due corrections are done, Goldstone's "Reconsideration" is more self-righteous than sincere.

That Goldstone reconsiders his 2009 Report - is commendable; that he states now firmly that Hamas committed not ‘alleged' but proven war crimes - because their indiscriminate rocket fire to Israeli civilians was "obviously intentional"; is right, and that he takes back the Report's absurd libelous accusation, as if Israel intentionally targeted civilians in Gaza - is also right and long overdue. 

But Goldstone still writes now as if his absurd blood libel against Israel was logical in 2009: "The allegations of intentionality by Israel were based on the deaths of and injuries to civilians in situations where our fact-finding mission had no evidence on which to draw any other reasonable conclusion" - but this was not true then, the same way it isn't true today.

As said Goldstone did have evidence in hand and he should have used it: like IDF aerial photos and maps that we sent to him (I have his personal written acknowledgements of receipt).  These aerial maps clearly showed that most Hamas rocket launchers were systematically placed adjacent to schools, residential and other protected buildings, obviously in order to draw IDF return fire upon them. This was the obvious reason why return IDF fire to the rocket launchers could hurt civilians too, and I am sure Judge Goldstone knew well that according to the Laws of Warfare such a case was NOT IDF's fault, but just one more Hamas war crime.

I wrote to Judge Goldstone then that in the absence of open Israeli co-operation I could help and get for him more IDF and other official Israeli info and documents if he needed. He was apparently not interested in such info, unfit to his conclusions, and he never referred in any way to the aerial photos and maps we submitted, what amounts to suppression of evidence.

Endre (Andre) MOZES

chairman@takeapen.org

Haifa, Israel