“The terrorists’ Magna Carta”

Israel’s former Justice Minister, Daniel Friedmann, in an op-ed calls the Goldstone report – “the terrorists’ Magna Carta.”

Friedmann makes note of the inherent conflict between Goldstone’s defensive claims and his actual report:

Moreover, Goldstone’s claim that he was leading “a fact-finding mission” is refuted by the report, which is highly judicial, replete with purported legal analysis of international law, detailed legal findings and reaching judicial determinations on “war crimes.”

As Goldstone told the Forward:

“If I was advising Israel, I would say have open investigations,” he told the Forward. “In that way, you can put an end to this. It’s in the interest of all the people of Israel that if any of our allegations are established and if they’re criminal, there should be prosecutions. And if they’re false, that should be established. And I wouldn’t consider it in any way embarrassing if many of the allegations turn out to be disproved.”

According to Goldstone, nothing is proven, but Israel must investigate, else be judge guilty.

Still, Friedmann gets to the most insulting aspect of the Goldstone report here:

I shall not elaborate upon the mission’s biased recommendations which are not devoid of a ludicrous aspect. “The mission recommends that Palestinian armed groups undertake forthwith to respect international humanitarian law, in particular by renouncing attacks on Israeli civilians” (p. 1770). This recommendation is a plea to fundamentalist terrorists for whom terror against civilians is their raison d’être, who regard suicide bombers and murderers as heroes. Is this recommendation, which seems like recommending to the Mafia to respect the law, a lip service to objectivity, naiveté, or evidence of complete detachment from reality?

I really can’t add anything else, but I will. Here’s how Hamas views its role:

The following were the main points quoted by the Hamas-affiliated Safa News Agency, October 28, 2009:1

i) The [Hamas] interior ministry “coordinates with all the factions of the resistance in [the] Gaza [Strip]” [i.e., the terrorist organizations].

ii) The ministry makes every effort “to protect them and make it easier for them to carry out every aspect of their jihadist missions.”

iii) There is routine coordination between the interior ministry and the various organizations: “We routinely meet with the commanders of the factions [i.e., the terrorist organizations] to remove obstacles between us. We have ended the security coordination with the occupation [i.e., the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel] and have replaced it with jihadist coordination” [i.e., operational coordination to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel].

I could be wrong but this doesn’t suggest that adherence to international law is one of the primary focuses of Hamas. Judge Goldstone will be so disappointed.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.