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Rep. Berman's Response to Goldstone on House Gaza War-Crimes Resolution

[Foreign Policy] After Judge Richard Goldstone wrote to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) to say that a resolution denouncing Goldstone's report was factually inaccurate, Berman prepared a reply discussing some factual inaccuracies in the Goldstone report: Goldstone: The "mandate clearly included rocket and mortar attacks on Israel." Berman: "The broadened mandate Justice Goldstone sought was discussed, but not voted on, at a UNHRC plenary session. It was then announced via a press release in an altered formulation, more restrictive than the formulation envisioned by Justice Goldstone. The UNHRC did not create a new mandate." When summarizing the results of investigations into alleged Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians, the report states that "in none of the cases reviewed were there any grounds which could have reasonably induced the Israeli armed forces to assume that the civilians attacked were in fact taking a direct part in the hostilities." The report does not take into account that Israeli soldiers were operating under fire, in an extremely volatile and dangerous environment, in which the enemy was hiding among a civilian population. The report uncritically attributes numerous statements to "Gaza Authorities" (meaning, Hamas), while often casting doubt on information derived from the international and Israeli press and from non-government-affiliated Israelis. Perhaps most tellingly, the report appears only to cite Israeli statements when it finds such statements a useful basis for criticizing Israel.
2009-11-04 06:00:00
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