Israel Matzav

State Department: Israel didn't commit war crimes

Addressing Judge Richard Goldstone's recent Washington Post op-ed, US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said that the US long held that Israel did not engage in war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, in a press briefing Monday. Goldstone wrote last week that Israel did not have a policy of targeting civilians and accused the UNHRC of conducting itself with a bias towards Israel.

"We've made clear from when the Goldstone Report was initially presented and maintained ever since that we didn't see any evidence that the Israeli government had intentionally targeted civilians or otherwise engaged in any war crimes," he said.

He added, saying that the US concurs with Goldstone's assertion that Jerusalem has "undertaken credible internal processes to assess its own conduct of hostilities."

Toner also discussed the United Nations Human Rights Council, which Goldstone criticized for having a clear anti-Israel bias. The US remains concerned by "and will continue working to an end to the – what we believe is anti-Israeli – Israel bias in the Human Rights Council," he said.

Labels: Goldstone Report, Richard Goldstone, United Nations Human Rights Council

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:44 PM