'They just made it up'
Professor Avi Bell concludes that there was no Goldstone investigation to back the infamous report.
They just made it up.
Inadvertently, Goldstone highlighted what a casual reader might overlook: the Goldstone Report's anti-Israel charges were just unproven partisan allegations masquerading as investigative conclusions.
A careful reading of the Report shows that the Goldstone Mission "investigated" by collecting accusations against Israel. The Report dismissed contrary physical, photographic, documentary, and testimonial evidence as unreliable, then rewrote the accusations in narrative form and "concluded" that they were true. Where necessary, the Report made up additional facts in place of missing evidence.
Consider the Report's "finding" that Israel criminally destroyed Gaza's al-Bader flour mill with air-launched missiles "for the purpose of denying sustenance to the civilian population." The Report cited as evidence only a Mission walk-around and the accusations of several Gazans who were not present at the time of the alleged attack. Two Israeli investigations concluded that the flour mill was never struck or targeted by Israeli missiles; in fact, Israel released aerial photos showing the roof of the mill intact several days after the alleged air strikes. Yet the Report not only concluded that the event happened, it even concluded that Israel's motivation for the imaginary attack "could only have been to destroy the local capacity to produce flour"? The evidence? The Report simply made it up.
Read the whole thing.
I did an extensive post on the al-Bader flour mill
here.
Labels: Desmond Travers, Goldstone Commission, Hina Jilani, Operation Cast Lead
NGO Monitor rips Goldstone Commission members
In response to Thursday's Comment is Free piece by
members of the Goldstone Commission in al-Guardian, NGO Monitor has issued a statement.
“From the beginning, it was clear that all the members of the so-called ‘fact finding’ exercise lacked the qualifications necessary to asses the events of the Gaza war, as well as demonstrating conflicts of interest and biases. It is also not surprising to see how closely their defense of the report reflects Amnesty International’s own statements,” said Professor Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “Chinkin had been a consultant to Amnesty, while Jilani and Travers signed a highly biased letter spearheaded by Amnesty accusing Israel of “war crimes” before their appointment to the UN body. Now they are again joining forces with Amnesty’s ideologues to counter Goldstone’s belated retraction. Morally, they have an obligation to follow the courageous example of Goldstone, and admit they were wrong.”
NGO Monitor also notes that among the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provided the allegations included in this discredited report, Amnesty was particularly influential. At a UNHRC-run townhall meeting for NGOs in Geneva in May 2009, representatives from Amnesty International gave a detailed outline for the report’s contents to the Goldstone mission members. Indeed, Amnesty’s recommendations closely corresponded to the final report.
Steinberg added, “It took two years, but Judge Goldstone has now acknowledged the obvious – that the UN Human Rights Council is totally biased, and therefore, the mandate, mission and report lack any moral or substantive validity. The fact that Hila Jilani, Christine Chinkin, and Desmond Travers cling to the anti-human rights agenda set by Libya, Iran, Cuba, China, and other core violators at the UNHRC serves to highlight their moral blindness.”
Goldstone's acknowledgment is too little, too late, and Chinkin, Jilani and Travers are determined to spearhead the effort to make sure it stays that way.
Labels: Christine Chenkin, Desmond Travers, Goldstone Commission, Hina Jilani
Other members of Goldstone Commission defend report
It should surprise no one that the members of the Goldstone Commission other than Goldstone himself are
still defending the report We concur in our view that there is no justification for any demand or expectation for reconsideration of the report as nothing of substance has appeared that would in any way change the context, findings or conclusions of that report with respect to any of the parties to the Gaza conflict. Indeed, there is no UN procedure or precedent to that effect.
The report of the fact-finding mission contains the conclusions made after diligent, independent and objective consideration of the information related to the events within our mandate, and careful assessment of its reliability and credibility. We firmly stand by these conclusions.
Also, it is the prerogative of the UN to take cognisance of any evidence subsequently gathered under domestic procedures that it finds credible and in accordance with international standards. Over 18 months after publication of the report, however, we are very far from reaching that point.
The mandate of the mission did not require it to conduct a judicial or even a quasi-judicial investigation. The mission and the report are part of a truth-seeking process that could lead to effective judicial processes. Like all reports of similar missions of the UN, it provided the basis for parties to conduct investigations for gathering of evidence, as required by international law, and, if so warranted, prosecution of individuals who ordered, planned or carried out international crimes.
In the case of the Gaza conflict, we believe that both parties held responsible in this respect, have yet to establish a convincing basis for any claims that contradict the findings of the mission's report.
Given what we know about the
biases of the other
group members, this is not at all surprising. They were more than willing to put their prestige behind this report. And now, it is they who will try to keep it in the public domain.
By the way, please let me know if you find the word "Hamas" anywhere in their statement.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Christine Chenkin, Desmond Travers, Goldstone Commission, Hina Jilani
Professor Avi Bell concludes that there was no Goldstone investigation to back the infamous report. They just made it up. 
