Silence is Goldstone

Judge Goldstone has been emphatic that his report on the Gaza war criticized both sides.

The report by Goldstone, a South African jurist, lambasted both sides in the December-January war, which killed up to 1,387 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, but was harsher toward Israel.

The accuracy of that claim is undermined by the paucity of specific mentions of Hamas in the report.

At one point, ala OJ, Hamas actually expressed a willingness to investigate the charges against it.

Hamas authorities said on October 15 that they will investigate the allegations against them. “Although we do not agree with certain aspects of his report, we intend to act on his recommendation and to carry out our own investigation into any alleged crimes committed by members of the resistance movements in Gaza,” the Hamas-run Foreign Ministry said about the Goldstone report.

However, now, a month and a half later, Hamas claims that the report exonerates them.

Hamas second-in-command Musa Abu Marzouq said in an interview: “All paragraphs in the Goldstone report convict Israel and totally exonerate Hamas from any misconduct. For instance, the report exonerates Hamas from the accusation of using civilians as human shields and attributes this accusation to Israeli forces. Likewise, the report exonerated Hamas from all other accusations mentioned by Israel, and even when the report is dealing with the rockets which were launched from Gaza, it speaks about military groups without naming Hamas.” Translated by Jonathan D. Halevi (Al-Mashahid Al-Siyasi-UK, Arabic, 5Dec09)

Given the provenance and makeup of Goldstone’s commission, it’s hardly surprising that it reached the results it did. The point of the report was not to do away with the “culture of impunity,” but to condemn Israel. Unfortunately Judge Goldstone refuses to address substantive challenges to his report, instead cloaking himself in a mantle of self-righteousness. No doubt he will ignore this latest claim from Hamas, because Hamas was irrelevant to the commission’s goals. Its report was not flawed, it achieved its purpose – it condemned Israel and let Hamas off the hook. That is what Hamas concluded. An honest man would vigorously dispute Marzouk’s claim; but we can expect silence from Goldstone.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.