Conceived in sin

According to Al Jazeera, the impetus for the Goldstone Commission report came from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). (h/t My Right Word)

Al Jazeera: The UN’s Goldstone report has been in the headlines in the past few weeks – not without controversy – and has brought to light the conduct of the Israelis and Hamas during the war on Gaza earlier in the year. Does the OIC see this as a step forward in recognising what transpired during that war and in bringing the plight of the Palestinians to the fore on an international scale?

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu: Let me first start by completing the story of the history of the Goldstone report. What I would like to put on record is that the OIC was the initiator of this process.

On January 3, during the attacks on Gaza, we convened the executive committee of the OIC on a ministerial level. It was decided that the OIC group in Geneva should ask the Human Rights Council to convene and consider the possibility of sending a fact-finding mission to Gaza.

The OIC was instrumental in getting through this resolution and thanks to the good offices of Ms Pilay, the UN high commissioner, that she formed this fact-finding mission headed by Judge Goldstone.

On October 8, I visited Geneva and had a meeting with OIC ambassadors and the high commissioner. We revived the process again and the Goldstone report has been approved by the rights council.

Now as for the prospects of the Goldstone report, I think the first thing to mention here is that the acceptance and approval of the report by the UN’s human rights council is itself testimony of the world’s public opinion about what happened in Gaza.

This report has certain operative paragraphs which aim to determine who is responsible for the massacres and destruction – illegally and in flagrant violation of humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war.

I think now the OIC and the international community should work hand-in-hand to implement the proposals made in the Goldstone report.

The OIC, it should be remembered, opposed the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. In other words, in the view of the OIC international law is war by other means. It is an instrument to be used for its members’ benefit or ignored if inconvenient.

The Washington Post editorialized at the time:

To be sure, some human rights groups have alleged crimes by Israeli forces in Gaza. But, according to Palestinian accounts, 1,409 people were killed during the offensive, of whom a substantial number were armed Hamas fighters. In contrast, the United Nations has reported more than 300,000 civilian deaths in Darfur as a result of the genocidal campaign sponsored by Mr. Bashir. Scores of villages have been systematically burned, and thousands of women systematically raped. Mr. Bashir responded to the ICC’s arrest warrant last month by expelling international aid groups from Darfur. The result has been growing food and water shortages and new epidemics, according to the Enough Project.

Regardless of this blatant hypocrisy, Israel Matzav points out:

But the key figure in this article has nothing to do with Israel: The OIC is the second largest intergovernmental body after the UN. So long as internationalists (like Barack Obama) try to govern the world on the basis of ‘one country, one vote,’ there will always be an automatic majority against Israel and Jews everywhere.

So if someone has ambitions in the milieu of international organizations, playing along is a great way to get ahead. And who better than a Jew, someone who could provide a fig leaf to this ugly conspiracy to vilify Israel?

A number of reports on the Goldstone commission describe Judge Goldstone, as “respected,” but perhaps “ambitious” might be a better description. South African ex-pat Douglas Davis explains (h/t/ Barry Rubin):

‘Oh yes,’ says a former senior colleague who was close to Goldstone for many years. ‘We believed he saw himself as a future secretary-general of the United Nations. At the time Boutros Boutros-Ghali held the post, so it seemed a logical progression for Goldstone to become Richard Richard.’

It might appear unkind to doubt the purity of Goldstone’s motives in joining the human rights industry, poignantly as Israel’s excoriator-in-chief. But he is, it seems, regarded by colleagues who knew him well as an opportunist. And the record suggests they might be right. There is nothing in Goldstone’s biography to imply he was destined to become a hero of the people, let alone a human rights champion. During his career he has executed some canny intellectual and ideological manoeuvres, leveraging past accomplishments to propel himself further up the pole of seniority and celebrity.

While many of his countrymen were fighting against apartheid, Goldstone was loftily administering South Africa’s laws from the bench of the Supreme Court. The impression that he was at least ‘friendly’ towards the Nationalists gained weight when he was elevated to the appellate division.

That’s not to say that he didn’t adapt when he saw change coming.

Then, just as apartheid was reaching tipping point, Goldstone jumped. He became chairman of the South African Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, a position he used to publicise the evils of apartheid and promote a new African National Congress-friendly persona (he refused to investigate ‘public violence and intimidation’ by the ANC).

Goldstone was on the road to redemption. With Mandela in power, he slid seamlessly onto the bench of the new South Africa’s highest court. Yet this was still not the summit of his ambitions. He was ready to burst onto the international stage, and in August 1994, he was appointed chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for both the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He had become a global brand.

So if Judge Goldstone is really Richard Richard, everything makes sense. Accepting the mission formulated by the OIC, is one sure way to get ahead in the world of unelected international politicians. However many times Goldstone piously claims that it his special responsibility as a Jew to investigate war crimes –

Judge Richard Goldstone, who headed the UN commission that investigated Operation Cast Lead said that he is saddened that Jews around the world feel that because he himself is a Jew that he should not investigate Israel. Goldstone said that as a Jew, he feels that he has a larger responsibility than most to investigate war crimes.

– in accepting his mandate from the UNHRC and OIC, he has violated tenets of Judaism such as judging fairly and standing up to a corrupt majority.

The latest revelations show that the point of the Goldstone Commission was to vilify Israel. Goldstone’s accepting of it had nothing to do with justice and everything to do with advancement.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.