UPDATED:GOLDSTONE REPORT~”ISRAEL RECKLESS, DISPROPORTIONATE, DILIBERATE”

MEET THE NEW NAZIS
IT’S OFFICIAL
ISRAEL GUILTY OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

Two reports on this first the AP is reporting this:

The report said that Israel's attacks in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, including the shelling of a house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble, amounted to war crimes.

It found seven incidents in which civilians were shot while leaving their homes trying to run for safety, waving white flags and sometimes even following Israeli instructions, as well as the targeting of a mosque at prayer time, killing 15 people, were also war crimes.

A "direct and intentional attack" on the Al Quds Hospital and an adjacent ambulance depot in Gaza City "may constitute war crimes," the report said.

And here's my report from watching Goldstone live:

I just finished watching Judge Richard Goldstone’s briefing at the UN on the release of his report which just happened one hour ago. From what was said the report has only just been handed out to a few people in Palestine and Israel and the UN and that was done, according to Goldstone, just half an hour ago. I expect it may be later today that the full report makes it online. Note that Israel banned him and his team from entering Israel or the West Bank to interview anyone. So they effectively kept witnesses away from the team. They hid the criminals from the law.

Here are a few quotes from Goldstone’s briefing:

Israel guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity

When describing some of the 36 incidents he and the group which consisted of an Irishman Desmond Travers a Military expert and others carried out the investigation Gold stone used these words to describe Israel’s actions: “Reckless, Disproportionate, and Deliberate”

In particular he gave one example of an attack on a mosque in Gaza. During the continued genocide in Gaza the Mosque decided to combine it’s morning prayers and evening prayers into one service each afternoon, to minimize the amount of people travelling outside whilst Israel was dropping bombs on them. It was during an afternoon service that hundreds of people were inside praying. Israel fired a mortar DIRECTLY INTO THE FRONT DOOR killing 15 innocent people. He said this was a deliberate act and a reckless act. He addressed the excuse Israel uses to attack Mosques, saying that there were no fighters at this particular service, not secondary explosions, hence no weapons stored inside as Israel wants people to believe. He went on to say that this was a direct attack on civilians. Additionally he said that even if there were some fighters inside a mosque, you do not attack a mosque during a service when you KNOW civilians will be inside in great numbers. He said there is NO justification in International Law or Humanitarian Law for attacking a mosque DURING a service.

Now, I watched this on CNN, they cut away after about 6 minutes or so of coverage, even though Goldstone was not finished speaking. After all, CNN had to minimize the damage to Israel. And here’s the best bit, immediately after cutting away back to the CNN studio, Jonathan Mann says this “Palestine and Israel Guilty of War Crimes” and then he said “I think we have someone on the phone” And there’s me thinking to myself, what are the odds it will be some Israeli to makes excuses. And guess what? I discovered that I am psychic when it comes to Israel. Because who was on the phone? Why none other than Gerald Steinberg from Israel, he’s head of “NGO Watch” ROFLMAO. And of course the hasbara started spewing, it was all the usual garbage, poor little Israel, Goldstone and his team are anti-Israel, the UN is Anti-Israel the World is Anti-Israel, the Irish are anti-Israel, the British are anti-Israel, everyone except Israelis are anti-Israel and the whole thing is JUST NOT FAIR……..This is quite comic given that Israel refused to allow Goldstone inside of Israel to talk to people and gather evidence. Israel had to ban him from entering, just in case he was able to talk to some soldier who had a conscience and confessed.ABOUT GOLDSTONE:

Goldstone, a Jew, insisted on a balanced approach. His proposal: Talk to the victims. All the victims.

When his appointment to lead the mission was announced Friday, it was clear that he had taken the job on his terms.

"I decided to accept it because of my deep concern for peace in the Middle East and my deep concern for victims on all sides in the Middle East," he said at a news conference in Geneva.

The mission, he and U.N. officials said, would examine abuses on both sides of the 22-day conflict.

Goldstone's appointment poses an immediate policy question for Israel's new government. Israel considers the 47-member council incorrigibly biased and has refused to take part in some of its previous inquiries, including one led by Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu. Goldstone's international reputation for fairness and balance, more than the fact that he is Jewish, could make it awkward for Israel to shut him out.

"He's a person of impeccable integrity," said South African lawyer Mervyn Smith, who has known Goldstone for 25 years and is a former president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. "The fact that he's Jewish is not going to influence him one way or another."

Yuval Shany, director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said he was surprised by the appointment. He said the U.N. council, dominated by Arab, African and Asian countries, usually sends outspoken critics of Israel to lead such inquiries.

"Clearly this is not the case here, because Richard Goldstone is a fair-minded jurist, and I don't think anyone can say he's hostile to Israel in any way," Shany said. MORE