You have a point, Diogenes, but I somehow doubt that an apologist for the Israel lobby would be trying to distract us from Gaza by pointing to the US/Israeli cluster bombs dropped on Lebanon in 2006!
The UN should have a "Goldstone" report on that war as well.
You're right MS, and I did not mean to belittle her(?) in that respect. Kathleen is probably on our side.
I do a google search for Goldstone every day, and let me tell you, this man is under attack.
One of the most common tactics is to use the "Why Israel? Why not (fill-in-the-blank)" argument to discredit any attention focused on Israel, from the protest at the Toronto International Film Festival to the Goldstone Report. I was simply making a point. Kathleen, if you feel insulted, I apoligize.
The Goldstone report offers an golden opportunity to hold to rogue states to account, in a fair and just forum. Maybe it's a new beginning.
from Hansard, Commons Debate, Thurs, Sept 17.
A leading question by a CPC member to the Hon(?) Peter Kent, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) ...
Mr. James Lunney (Nanaimo-Alberni, CPC):Mr. Speaker, this week the UN Human Rights Council released its latest anti-Israel missive.
The Goldstone report began with a mandate to condemn the Jewish state in a process that Canada and many other nations would not support. The report accuses Israel of war crimes in the recent Gaza conflict.
Regrettably, war crimes is the same claim made by the Leader of the Opposition during the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Could the minister of state please inform this House what the government's response is to this report?
Hon. Peter Kent (Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I would remind this House that the so-called fact-finding commission was the creation of one of the United Nations' most flawed bodies, the Human Rights Council, which includes some of the UN's least democratic states.
In commissioning this study, the Human Rights Council pre-emptively assumed Israel's culpability. This government has never equated Israel, a democratic state, with terrorist groups that seek to destroy both it and its people.
This government will continue to remind members opposite that it is one thing to offer support of words to Israel when it is convenient and quite another to stand with Israel in its--
I'm not sure how Mr. Kent intended to finish his sentence or why it was not recorded in Hansard.
In its "time of need" perhaps?
I'm hoping it was not recorded because of groans of derision, but I may be wrong. He may have been speechless with a tear in his eye.
Israel's Killing Fields Exposed:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/966/sc2.htm
"The Goldstone Rport documents in detail Israel's attacks on Palestinian life in Gaza. If nothing is done, the indifference of the international community will also be evident.."
Israel must give due considertion to Justice Goldstone's report. While there are flaws its overall view should motivate Israelis to ask serious questions on conduct during war and be self-critical, take proper action where necessary.
Finally got around to the looking at the group Breaking The Silence, an NGO in Israel. Thank you earth-as-one. They collect stories from veterans, reservists and soldiers who have witnessed events that where crimes amy have been committed.
They have collected testimonials from 26 soldiers who participated in the 22 day Gaza war this year. It provides for frightening evidence.
A 23 min Al Jazeera interview on YouTube is highly rated. Three people are interviewed in the segment, Michael Mannekin from Breaking The Silence, Gerald Steinberg from Bar Ilan University, and Charles Davies, a European Member of Parliament.
Steinberg is the antagonsit here. He rambles on incessently, rudely interrupting others to the point that it is almost comical. He come off looking like a first class jerk. Ironically, he is credited, at the beginning of the interview, as being the founder of the Conflict Management and Negotiation program at Bar Ilan University. I'm sure it's a great program.
PFLP: PA Decision to Postpone Consideration of the Goldstone Report Is An Unjustified Betrayal
"The PFLP denounced the actions of the Palestinian Authority in requesting the postponement of consideration of the report of Judge Richard Goldstone on war crimes in Gaza at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva Switzerland, declaring that this act of betrayal will not be forgiven by the Palestinian people or the PFLP.."
'Israel Has To Be Held Accountable'
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/10/200910475534235872.html
"Sahar Francis, a Palestinian Israeli, and a human rights lawyer who testified before the UN fact finding mission led by Goldstone spoke to AJ about the move and its fallout.."
I was disappointed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) caved in to US/Israeli demands to delay the vote on the Goldstone report and remain mystified as to why they have this power. Israel uses divide and conquer tactics very effectively with the Palestianian leadership and they have done it again.
The PA remain mum on their reasons for agreeing to a delay. The move has provoked shock and anger from many Palestinians.
This is not a defeat however. The Gladstone report is still on the table and it's not going away. Justice Gladstone asked both Hamas and Israel to undertake their own credible investigations into the events examined in the report.
Otherwise both Hamas and Israel should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Another Injustice to Palestinians
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229989
"Despite this possibly dismal outcome, the failure of the UN Human Rights Council can be turned into victory for the UN General Assembly. For this to happen, not only must Member states of the "G192" show the courage of their convictions, but also the president of the General Assembly and the diplomats representing the Palestinian people in New York.
Arguments that political circumstances constrain action, like those made in Geneva, cannot but be understood as a willingness to submit to the will of the oppressors. This is not an option that the Palestinian people will accept.."
Excellent news:
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8290554.stm][color=blue]Israeli Vice Prime Minister cancels trip to UK, afraid he'll be arrested for war crimes[/color][/url]
Mr Yaalon, who is vice prime minister and strategic affairs minister, had been invited to attend a charity dinner held by the Jewish National Fund's UK branch. [...]Allegations against Mr Yaalon date back to July 2002, when an Israel Air force jet dropped a one-tonne bomb in a densely populated area of Gaza to assassinate senior Hamas figure Salah Shehada.
The attack was part of Israel's policy of "targeted killings" of Palestinian militants it blamed for plotting attacks against it.
At the time, the army expressed regret about the deaths of the 14 civilians, at least eight of them children, killed in addition to Mr Shehada and said they had come about as the result of faulty intelligence.
I'm appalled by the lack of coverage on this story by Canada's mainstream media. I've posted on this before and since that time, the coverage has gone downhill.
There is always lots of action on Google for "Goldstone UN report", typically 3,000+ stories. To find a Canadian source, one has to visit each respective website and enter the search term in the site-search daialog box. Good luck.
CBC, G&M, and The Star did not even bother reporting that the UN vote on the Gladstone report had been delayed.
Since then, a crybaby letter: "Goldstone's worthless report" in the National Post (of course) and a rubbish op-ed "The Gaza report is a disaster for human rights and peace" by Barry Rubin in the G&M. The titles say it all. The rest is not worth reading.
What is most disgusting, however, is Parliament. There is but one reference to the Goldstone report in Hansard since the current session resumed. It was a nicely scripted "answer your own question" policy statement by a couple of Harper monkeys, James Lunney and Peter Kent.
These outrageous statements have never been challenged by any MP from any party, nor has anyone stepped up to support the findings of the Goldstone report.
Does the pro-Israeli lobby have everyone in parliament muzzled? What in hell is going on? There are more references to the holocaust in Hansard then there is to Gaza even though Gaza happened this year, killed over 1,400 people and involved war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I hate grand conspiracy theories, but what am I supposed to fall back on here? Do we, Canada, and Canadians in general, have a "don't-give-a-shit" attitude when it comes to the plight of Gaza, Palestine or mid-east peace?
Why are we so content with being Israel's diplomat monkey, defending it's "right" to expand settlements and helping it avoid being accountable for its nucleur arsenal? Canada has certainly jumped on the current "hey everybody, look at Iran!" bandwagon.
Norway finds UN Gaza report serious
Norwegian Foreign Minister Stoere considers the allegations made in the UN fact finding report concerning violations of human rights and international humanitarian law during the Gaza conflict to be very serious. Stoere says that Norway will actively follow up the report in the UN Human Rights Council.
Norway is a current member of the UH Human Right Council.
The United States is also now a member of the council (since Sept 14, 2009).
Canada was an original member of this council for 3 years ending in June of this year. But in the eyes of our government, the UN HRC is now (and maybe always has been) one of the UN's "most flawed bodies". Nice statement. Excellent foreign policy, Canada.
Buying Off the PA: How Israel Buried the UN's War Crimes Probe
http://www.counterpunch.org/cook10062009.html#
"Dalit Baum, a founder of Who Profits?, said the importance of the telecommunications industry to the Palestinian economy made it a point of leverage over the PA at moments of diplomatic crisis such as the Goldstone Report."
I was disappointed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) caved in to US/Israeli demands to delay the vote on the Goldstone report and remain mystified as to why they have this power.
More excellent news - it looks as if the pressure has had its effect:
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8294880.stm][color=blue]Palestinian U-turn on Gaza report[/color][/url]
The UN Security Council is set to discuss whether to hold an emergency session on the Goldstone report on the conflict in Gaza nine months ago.Libya, the only Arab state on the 15-member body, will request the session in a closed-door meeting.
Palestinian officials voiced their "full support" for the meeting - after leaders were excoriated for requesting a deferral of a UN debate last week. [...]
One senior Palestinian politician, Yasser Abed Rabbo, has said the leadership had erred by seeking the deferral of the debate at the Human Rights Council until next March.
"[b]We must say a mistake has been made. This mistake should not be underestimated or concealed[/b]," he said in a radio interview.
Israel must give due considertion to Justice Goldstone's report. While there are flaws its overall view should motivate Israelis to ask serious questions on conduct during war and be self-critical, take proper action where necessary.
I couldn't agree more Gus. I have to say those who have called Justice Goldstone - Israelis and in the rightwing of the diaspora - a "self-hating Jew" ought to be ashamed of themselves.
The tide is turning. More great news!
EU backs UN Gaza Report, disappointing Israel
STOCKHOLM - The European Union backed on Thursday a contentious UN report blasting Israel's military offensive in Gaza, praising its chief author and saying the document is "worthy of consideration."
"It is worthy of consideration needless to say, I think Mr Goldstone is a person of high credibility and high integrity and accordingly his report carries weight," Bildt told reporters in Stockholm.
Stockholm wrote that?? Good for him!
You have a point, Diogenes, but I somehow doubt that an apologist for the Israel lobby would be trying to distract us from Gaza by pointing to the US/Israeli cluster bombs dropped on Lebanon in 2006!
The UN should have a "Goldstone" report on that war as well.
"On July 16 2006 Robert Fisk reported in The Independent that the Israelis commanded the Lebanese civilians in Marwaheen to leave their village, and then bombed their departing convoy of civilian cars. Twenty civilians were burned alive, including at least nine children."
Thanks. M. Spector. That is what I meant. As below, I believe there were war crimes committed in Lebanon as well. I am grateful for the Goldstone report on the latest massacre. Is there a statute of limitations on these reports? Seriously, is there?
(I'm late responding - been away.)
From the Financial Times, an essay by Antonio Cassese
We must stand behind the UN report on Gaza
Today the United Nations Security Council will discuss the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Top of the agenda will be the critically important UN report by Justice Richard Goldstone on Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year.
The report presents evidence that both Israel and Palestinian armed groups committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the fighting, some of which should be prosecuted as war crimes. It calls on both sides to conduct impartial investigations and prosecute those found responsible. It challenges the international community to break with past practice and take bold steps towards peace.
...
Lack of accountability continues to prove one of the greatest obstacles to peace in the Middle East, and is used to justify further violence. The Goldstone report presents a chance to rectify that mistake. If governments evade its recommendations, that would be a missed opportunity to strengthen conditions for a just and durable peace in the Middle East; and a deadly blow for accountability mechanisms in many other conflicts.
Even the [url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861893834&pagename=JPArti... Post[/url] sometimes lets the truth slip out in their columns:
This is the Israeli notion of a fair deal: We're entitled to do whatever the hell we want to the Palestinians because, by definition, whatever we do to them is self-defense. They, however, are not entitled to lift a finger against us because, by definition, whatever they do to us is terrorism.
That's the way it's always been, that's the way it was in Operation Cast Lead.
And there are no limits on our right to self-defense. There is no such thing as "disproportionate." We can blockade Gaza, we can answer Kassams with F-16s and Apaches, we can take 100 eyes for an eye.
We can deliberately destroy thousands of Gazan homes, the Gazan parliament, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, courthouses, the only Gazan flour plant, the main poultry farm, a sewage treatment plant, water wells and God knows what else.
Deliberately.
After all, we're acting in self-defense. By definition.
And what right do the Palestinians have to defend themselves against this?
None.
Why? Because we're better than them. Because we're a democracy and they're a bunch of Islamo-fascists. Because ours is a culture of life and theirs is a culture of death. Because they're out to destroy us and all we are saying is give peace a chance.
One look at the ruins of Gaza ought to make that plain enough.
Here is our idea of the "laws of war": When Israeli bulldozers rolled across the border into Gazan villages and flattened house after house so Hamas wouldn't have them for cover after the IDF pulled out, that was self-defense. But if a Palestinian boy who'd lived in one of those houses threw a stone at one of the bulldozers, that was terrorism.
The Goldstones of the world call this hypocrisy, a double standard. How dare they! Around here, we call it moral clarity.
Rights Council Debates Gaza Report:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/2009101514315700273.html
"The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will again debate the Goldstone report on last winter's Gaza war.."
Those who are to blame for everything have been found: the "Goldstoners." Not the occupation, the settlements, Israeli aggressiveness or brutality; just Goldstone. According to Ari Shavit (Haaretz, October 8), the spirit of Judge Richard Goldstone will bring the next war upon us, and it will be called the Goldstone War.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week reiterated that sentiment in amazingly similar terms this week in his speech to the Knesset. Not since Golda Meir said she would never forgive the Arabs for making us kill their children have such self-righteous, infuriating and damaging statements been made.
It is fairly certain that the next war will break out at a time and place of Israel's choosing. That is the way it has been in all the wars since 1973. We have embarked on three unnecessary wars on Israel's initiative because of the "Golda spirit" of Shavit and those like him, who see war as a legitimate and even desirable weapon.
The next war will also be a "Golda war," like that accursed war in 1973, which could also have been avoided if not for the spirit of Golda. Shavit and the other Goldas, busy with self-deception and moral blindness, who incite, repress and lie, who reject every possibility of a just solution - they are the ones who will bring it, just like its predecessors.
The Goldas are doing everything possible to avoid a peace agreement. They whine and self-victimize.
[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/16/gaza-war-crimes-un-vote][col... Human Rights Council approves Goldstone Report[/color][/url]
In favour (25): Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia.
Against (6): US, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine.
Absentions (11): Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, Uruguay.
Britain, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola did not vote.
The report will go to the UN general assembly and could lead to a rare international criminal court investigation if Israel and Hamas fail to mount their own credible independent inquiries into the war crimes allegations within six months. [...]"Israel rejects the one-sided resolution adopted in Geneva by the UN human rights council and calls upon all responsible states to reject it as well," the Israeli foreign ministry said. The resolution "provides encouragement for terrorist organisations worldwide and undermines global peace". Israel has criticised the council in the past for an anti-Israel bias.
In Ramallah, a spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the result but said he wanted to see action. "What is important now is to translate words into deeds in order to protect our people in the future from any new aggression," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Hamas for its part welcomed the resolution as "the beginning of the prosecution of the leaders of the occupation," even though it too risks international investigations.
The resolution not only dealt with the Goldstone report but condemned Israel's policies in east Jerusalem, particularly over access to Muslim holy sites, demolitions of Palestinian homes and excavation work near the Haram al-Sharif, also known as the Temple Mount. [...]
Gordon Brown reportedly had a heated telephone call on Wednesday with Netanyahu, who pressed him to vote against the resolution. Brown spoke again with Netanyahu this morning, hours before the vote, and Britain then decided not to take part at all.
PFLP Hails UNHRC Adoption of Goldstone Report and Demands Prosecution of Occupation War Criminals
http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=pflp-hails-unhrc-adoption-goldstone-report...
Does anyone else share my suspicion that the only war crimes prosecutions that will ever come out of this will be against Palestinians?
here's hoping it's gone too far for that....
No, M.
I think there is something very important going on here that has tremendous implications for the larger world. I think we are witness to a political awakening in the global south and among the Palestinian dispora.
Israel made a terrible strategic error with the massacre at Gaza. Suddenly the mask of victimhood was ripped away to reveal a monster. That has led, I think, to a political awakening in the global south and I think the Goldstone report and the political manipulation of the PA in collusion with Israel and the US has had the unintended consequence of breathing anger and new life into not just Palestinian political resistance.
The final acts are yet to be played out on this, but the United States now stands naked before the world. The US cannot reconcile Obama's words to the muslim world in Cairo with the actions of obstructing international law and perverting justice on behalf of war criminals at the UN. They can no longer have it both ways. I think we have reached a critical juncture in history and the whole world will is watching.
The CBC article above is based on one single sentence out of a 75 minute conference call between Judge Goldstone and U.S. rabbis who condemn the Israeli aggression and blockade of Gaza:
The Rabbinic conference call has been organized by Taanit Tzedek – Jewish Fast for Gaza, a monthly fast launched in July by a group of rabbis to protest Israel’s blockade of goods and services into Gaza. The conference call is co-sponsored by The Rabbinic Cabinet of Brit Tzedek, and Rabbis for Human Rights –North America.
[s]A (lengthy) transcript of the Sunday evening conference call appears [url=http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2009/10/a-conference-call-with-judg... And if you really want to, you can listen to the call [url=http://fastforgaza.net/audio/goldstone-10-18-2009][color=red]here[/color... (I haven't done so yet - maybe I will).
NOTE: There were 150 rabbis and rabbinical students on the call!
ETA: Whoops, I misspoke. The first link I gave is [b]NOT[/b] a transcript - it's one person's notes. I have no idea if they're accurate. Taanit Zedek (Fast For Gaza) has stated they will have a full transcript up [url=http://fastforgaza.net/node/93][color=red]by Oct. 21[/color][/url].
That didn't last long.
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/20/israel-un-war-crimes-gaza-war.h... rules out Gaza probe[/url]
Yes, it's the same link. The CBC is playing that game again.
Israel has decided against setting up an independent panel to investigate the military's conduct last year in Gaza, instead calling on the U.S. to prevent the issue from advancing further at the United Nations.
Now I'm sorry I said anything (though I didn't really expect much to come of an internal inquiry).
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/20/israel-un-war-crimes-gaza-war.h... to consider Gaza war probe[/url]
Israeli leaders are to discuss Tuesday whether to set up an independent panel to investigate the military's conduct during the winter war in Gaza - a move that could scuttle efforts to bring Israel before a war crimes tribunal.
ETA: If you follow the link you'll find the story has been rewritten and now reports something quite different. The CBC does that.
They must have read up on Canada's Somalia inquiry and decided that you can't even trust the whitewashes that you organize yourself.
FM, that was a beautiful post. I agree completely. I think (and hope) we are witnessing a moment of history here, another Berlin wall starting to crumble.
The coverage in the Canadian MSM has been really pathetic. This is a big story in the world. A Google News search on Richard Goldstone gives 11,542 hits.
Parliament has resumed sitting. There has been no mention of Goldstone or Gaza yet in this sitting, other than one pathetic ask and answer scripted by the conservatives. They trashed the Goldstone report, obviously without reading it. The opposition parties have said nothing to challenge this.
I listened to the whole Judge Goldstone/rabbi conference call. I wish more Canadians could hear what this man has to say. He is incredibly courageous and gracious given the attacks on his character that he has endured since this report was published. If his report makes a difference, and it just may, then the Nobel Prize committee can at least award their next peace prize it to someone who has really earned it.
Just want to say thank you to those who keep on reporting on this.
Hear and read what Judge Goldstone has to say in his own words: the mission, his motivation, and his answers to the many critics:
Video interview: Richard Goldstone 5:26
Al Jazeera, Oct. 22, 2009
"I have yet to hear from the (Barack) Obama administration what the flaws in the report that they have identified are,"
an op-ed piece by Richard Goldstone published in the Jerusalem Post, Oct. 18
I begin with my own motivation, as a Jew who has supported Israel and its people all my life, for having agreed to head the Gaza mission. Over the past 20 years, I have investigated serious violations of international law in my own country, South Africa, in the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and the alleged fraud and theft by governments and political leaders in a number of countries in connection with the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food program. In all of these, allegations reached the highest political echelons. In every instance, I spoke out strongly in favor of full investigations and, where appropriate, criminal prosecutions. I have spoken out over the years on behalf of the International Bar Association against human rights violations in many countries, including Sri Lanka, China, Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.I would have been acting against those principles and my own convictions and conscience if I had refused a request from the United Nations to investigate serious allegations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas in the context of Operation Cast Lead.
Goldstone: I believed it would be good for Israel
an interview with Richard Goldstone, Oct. 22, TheJC.com (The Jewish Community online)
Q: What in your view would have been a "proportionate" response by Israel to the rocket attacks?A: A proportionate response from Israel would have been the targeting of combatants, ie members of the militant armed groups. What happened was a huge military assault against all of the people of the Gaza Strip. Again, there has been no response from Israel to justify the bombing of some 200 industrial factories, including the only flour-producing facility, and a substantial part of the egg-producing industry that involved the killing of many thousands of chickens - not to mention the bulldozing of huge tracts of agricultural land. Such a proportionate response might well have involved commando operations. That would certainly not be beyond the capability of the Israel Defence Force.
Has anybody asked Goldstone what would be a "proportionate" response by the Palestinians to years of being driven off their land, having their villages, crops, and farmlands bulldozed into oblivion, having thousands of their numbers held and tortured as prisoners in Israeli jails, being condemned to poverty and homelessness by economic blockades and home demolitions, enduring hundreds of daily incidents of humiliation and indignity, and having medical supplies, and water supplies, humanitarian aid, and access to international credit cut off by the Israelis?
Sign IAC Petition: Act On Goldstone Gaza War Crimes Report:
http://www.iacenter.org/palestine/gazawarcrimes
"We the undersigned organizations, institutions, and individuals, are writing to demand the full implementation of the recommendations of the 'Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict', and to express our deepest concern and strong condemnation of the premeditated prevention of endorsing the Report at the UN Human Rights Council's Twelfth Session.."
I was disappointed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) caved in to US/Israeli demands to delay the vote on the Goldstone report and remain mystified as to why they have this power. Israel uses divide and conquer tactics very effectively with the Palestianian leadership and they have done it again.
The PA remain mum on their reasons for agreeing to a delay. The move has provoked shock and anger from many Palestinians.
This is not a defeat however. The Gladstone report is still on the table and it's not going away. Justice Gladstone asked both Hamas and Israel to undertake their own credible investigations into the events examined in the report.
Otherwise both Hamas and Israel should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Here is an explanation:
PA's Goldstone block linked to tapeA videotape is behind the decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to delay the vote on a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes during its offensive on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian news agency has reported.
Quoting what it called reliable sources, Shahab news agency said on Tuesday that PA representatives at a meeting in Washington had initially rejected Israel's request not to endorse the report and were determined to stick to this position.
But, the agency added, Brigadier Eli Avraham played a videotape showing a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister.
The meeting was also attended by Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister.
The video reportedly showed Abbas trying to convince Barak to continue the war on Gaza, while Barak looked hesitant, although Livni appeared to be in support of the plan, Shahab quoted its sources as saying....
http://m.aljazeera.net/?i=4360&artId=258933&showonly=1
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=58686
http://australiansforpalestine.com/alert-the-abu-mazen-tapes-the-goldsto...
Abbas has effectively become a IDF and Shin Bet subcontractor. BTW, who pays Abba's living/security expenses?
One of the best opinion pieces I have read:
Ian Williams: Stand up and defend Richard Goldstone Tribune, Oct. 24, 2009
Tribune is a weekly publication founded in 1937. It has counted George Orwell and Michael Foot amoung its editors.
A thorn in the side of all governments, constructively to Labour, unforgiving to Conservatives.
For the record, in the flood of personal attacks on former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, neither the US nor Britain and France seriously challenged the substance of his report or the integrity of his mission. They have been reduced to the inanities mentioned earlier, lamenting its failure to hear the case that the Israelis refused to make.
There have been occasional references to the imbalance of his mandate. Yet Goldstone, a self-professed Zionist and Israel supporter, altered his mandate to include investigations of Hamas' actions. Occasionally, in deference to the Israeli furore, references are made about the report being unbalanced - which could only come from people who have not read it. It calls on Hamas, as well as Israel, to investigate its actions.
Bearing mind the almost 100 to one Palestinian to Israeli death toll and the numerous mentions of one Israeli prisoner, Gilad Shalit, compared with the skimpy references to as many as 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many elected legislators, held by Israel, pro-Palestinian commentators have much more room to complain of bias about the report's allocation of space.
The Israeli government is seriously worried that its charm of impunity is wearing off. It should be. Goldstone is a person of the highest integrity. From his work in South Africa, to the International Tribunal for the Balkans and even on the Volcker Commission on the Oil For Food programme in Iraq, he has shown his dedication to international law and accountability. He has even condemned the resolution adopting his report for not explicitly mentioning Hamas.
Did Richard Goldstone Hide More Sinister Crimes in Gaza? Parts 1,2
http://www.paltelegraph.com/opinions/editorials/2742-did-richard-goldsto...
http://www.paltelegraph.com/opinions/editorials/2757-did-richard-goldsto...
"Again we see a classic example of a UN investigation that only plays with the periphery of War Crimes committed by Israel whilst at the same time ignoring the most important horrific crimes carried out by the IDF.."
US House to Vote On Resolution to Reject Goldstone Report, Findings, and Recommendations:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/11/01/house-to-vote-on-resoluti...
s/
"The US House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday on a resolution calling on President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton "to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the 'Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict' in mulitlateral fora.."
Did Richard Goldstone Hide More Sinister Crimes in Gaza? Parts 1,2
Part 3 of this series has the full text of US Congress "resolution" on the Goldstone report which is set for a vote today. It will probably pass and pave the way for a US veto in the UN security council.
The resolution has 30 some "whereas" clauses. Together, they form an excellent representation of half-truths, out-of-context quotes, and outright rubbish pedaled by the formidable pro-Israeli propoganda machine. The rules of the house allow this resolution to fast track a vote without any amendments.
A good example of why so many consider the US government as dysfunctional.
An excellent interview of Richard Goldstone by Bill Moyers of the US Public Broadcast Service (PBS). A full transcript is included.
I have sent an email to Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, and Lawrence Cannon with a link to this interview. Anytime I have written or e-mailed an MP, they always answer. Sometimes it takes a long time and sometimes the answer is pure bullshit, but they do read their e-mails and they do respond, even if, like Harper, they don't read Canadian news or postings on babble.
I am hoping other readers here do the same.
Click here to send you own ready made email. Edit as you wish and add your own MP to the mailing list.
Make yourself heard. Make a difference. Do what you can do.
A heartfelt thanks to all who do.
-Diogenes
Canada voted against the Goldstone report at the UN General Assembly, which is the equivalent of voting in favor of attacking civilians, hospitals, ambulances, burning children alive with white phosphorus, digging pits in front of tanks and heavy artillery and filling them with civilians as they engage their adversaries, using children as human shields, as well as firing unguided missiles at civilians.
I'm embarassed to call myself a Canadian today.
Bipartisan Attack on International Law:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6549
"In a stunning blow against international law and human rights, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Tuesday attacking the report of the UNHCR's fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict.."
US House Vote Against Goldstone Report Was a Vote of Conscience
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/us-house-vote-against-goldst...
"1,400 Gazans were brutally murdered by Israeli forces in the Gaza War...mostly civilians. In the War in Iraq, to date over 1,300,000 Iraqis have been killed...and continue to be killed on a daily basis. US war crimes are far worse than the Israeli ones...this is an indisputable FACT."
1.3 million Iraqis is a new number. Where did that originate?
The table below summarizes some of the Iraqi casualty figures.
Source :Iraqi casualties :March 2003 to...
Iraq Family Health Survey
151,000 violent deaths.
June 2006
Lancet survey
601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths.
June 2006
Opinion Research Business survey
1,033,000 violent deaths as a result of the conflict.
August 2007
Associated Press
110,600 violent deaths
April 2009
Iraq Body Count
92,489 - 100,971 violent civilian deaths as a result of the conflict.
June 2009
NDPP1.3 million Iraqis is a new number. Where did that originate?
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq
"Opinion Research Business estimated that 1.2 million Iraqis have been killed violently..."
Canada voted against the Goldstone report at the UN General Assembly...
I'm embarassed to call myself a Canadian today.
It came as no surprise to me that Canada voted against this resolution, being the only country in the world that supports Israel more than the US.
What is more surprising is how compliant Canada's media is to the Israeli lobby. The Goldstone report has been virtually ignored in Canada's media. I bet that at least 70% of Canadians have no idea what the Goldstone report is about. Not one Canadian MSM article I read even mentioned that Canada was one of the few western demoracies to vote against the resolution; instead they just reported the vote tally.
Here is the official line of reasoning for voting against the resolution: source
Also speaking in explanation of vote, Canada's speaker said his delegation had voted against the resolution because it was concerned about the imbalanced nature of the Goldstone Report, as it had not called on an investigation by both sides. It had assumed that Israel was wholly culpable. Proceeding with the twelfth special session of the Human Rights Council had not been appropriate, as a solution would have been to negotiate rather than antagonize the parties. Canada still called on all parties to respect their duty under international human rights and humanitarian laws. Noting that Israel had been in the midst of carrying out its own investigation, he called on all sides to be investigated by the relevant parties.
What a bunch of rubbish. One has to wonder what Goldstone Report Canada was talking about or if anyone from the Canadian delegation had even bothered to read any of it. Since Canada's MSM is almost devoid of information on the Goldstone report, it may be that our delegation rely on selected articles from the Jerusalem Post for their research.
Whatever - vacuous statements and empty platitudes like those that come from our UN delegation only cement Canada's reputation as a sock puppet for Israeli foreign policy and as an ass-clown in the world of diplomacy.
