Statements of Gazan Arabs recorded by the Goldstone Commission and posted on the UN website provide authentic evidence of the Goldstone Commission's methodology and raise serious questions about The Goldstone Commission's intentions to discover the truth.
Goldstone Commission members did not ask the interviewed Gazan Arabs questions about the activities of Hamas and the other Arab terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip which could be classified as war crimes or that were potentially dangerous to innocent Gazan Arabs.
They never asked about:
1. Launching rockets at Israeli towns and villages from within residential dwellings;
2. Firing mortar shells into Gazan Arab neighborhoods when IDF forces were operating in or near the area;
3. Firing anti-tank missiles, rifles, and machine guns at Palestinian buildings in Gaza suspected of having been entered by IDF forces despite the presence of Gazan Arab civilians in the area;
4. Seizing of Gazan Arabs' private homes from which to ambush IDF forces;
5. Booby-trapping Gazan Arabs' houses before and during the war and detonating the bombs;
6. Planting various types of anti-personnel and anti-vehicle IEDs near Gazan Arabs' houses and detonating them;
7. Sniping and firing heavy machine guns at IDF forces within Gazan Arab residential areas.
None of the statements taken by the commission (as posted on the UN website) reported even one single instance of the presence of armed Gazan Arabs, or of armed Gazan Arabs firing rockets at Israel or shooting at IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip. There was no serious consideration of Gazan Arabs "friendly fire" incidents, which occurs with the most disciplined armies, but is not adequately examined as an explanation for Palestinian losses, and we can only guess how many Palestinian civilians were killed or wounded by Palestinian fire. In fact, they reported that throughout the entire three weeks of fighting there was no significant Gazan Arabs resistance to the IDF.
The commission did not press the witnesses in order to elicit more information and did not confront them with the reports issued by the Gazan Arab terrorist organizations themselves, which detailed the fighting in a way that often contradicted the Gazan Arab witnesses. It did not adequately examine Gazan Arab rules of engagement - or the lack of any such rules. In addition, the witnesses hid vital information from the commission regarding the presence of armed terrorists or exchanges of fire in their vicinity.
Gaza is not occupied by Israel, as is quite clear from even a cursory look at the Hague Convention which lays down the criteria for occupation. For Goldstone to say that Gaza is still occupied demonstrates either an ignorance of international law quite remarkable for a professor of international law, or that he is signed up to the ideology which deliberately uses such mis-statements to delegitimise Israel.
United Nations Human Rights Council Judge Richard Goldstone, whose 575-page report on Wednesday condemned Israel for war crimes, fell asleep while he was supposed to be watching a film showing Sderot children fleeing from rocket fire. Noam Bedein, head of the Sderot Media Center, reported, “I screened a film showing the rocket explosions, and Goldstone fell asleep before my eyes."
With his 575-page report, Goldstone demonstrably forfeits his claim to legal, moral or intellectual credibility. He should be disowned by the legal profession.
Lots more here and here
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Also a thorough rebuttal here: http://samsonblinded.org/blog/goldstone-report-the-rebuttal.htm
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