Israel Matzav

Goldstone's last gasp?

Was Friday's UN General Assembly resolution granting five more months for Israel and the 'Palestinians' to conduct 'independent' probes of their actions in Operation Cast Lead, the last gasp of the Goldstone Report? Well, maybe (Hat Tip: Soccer Dad).

Legal attorney Nick Kaufman, who had served as a senior prosecutor at the ICC and a senior district attorney for the Jerusalem prosecution, said Israeli officials were likely safe from war crimes suits as the U.S. would probably veto such a move.

Until a month ago Kaufman, an expert on international law and rules of warfare, served as a senior lawyer in the Jerusalem prosecutor's office.

- Nick Kaufman, do you think you will represent an Israeli official, who has been charged with committing war crimes following the Goldstone report, at the international court?

Kaufman: "I don't believe so. I think the Goldstone report will receive a poor man's burial."

- You sound decisive.

" I don't understand how the United Nations Security Council has made a decision to transfer the case to the international criminal court at The Hague, because I think in any event, the United States will veto the decision."

"The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said he was satisfied with the investigation Israel has conducted, but the Arab League and other unidentified countries have insisted that a new investigation be conducted in the next 5 months. I don't see it going beyond this."

"On the other hand, I don't believe the senior prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will yield to the Palestinians request and order an investigation against Israel: For him to accept the Palestinian request to recognize their court authority to try and judge the violations committed on their land, he would first have to recognize the Palestinian Authority as an independent country, and I cant see him making such an extreme decision. I just don't see it happening."

Kaufman goes on to say that since the Report will likely be killed anyway, there is no reason for Israel to establish an independent non-IDF inquiry. Read the whole thing.

I wonder if Richard Richard will still get to be Secretary General. Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:03 AM