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

UPDATED~Jewish Judge To Head UN Israeli War Crimes Investigations

Strategically there are two ways to look at this: 1. Either they are going to "go for it" and Israel will be charged. Having a Jewish Judge head the panel will blow holes in Israeli's claims of "bias" 2. Perhaps nothing will come of this and the "judge" was placed to lead the panel because this investigation will go "nowhere"

take your pick, story below:

UN names Jewish judge to lead Israel-Gaza probe

Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to head high-level mission to investigate alleged crimes committed by IDF during Operation Cast Lead

The United Nations says a Jewish judge from South Africa will lead a high-level mission to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The global body says its former chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Richard Goldstone, will head the probe ordered by the Human Rights Council in January.

According to the mandate, the investigation will focus only on Palestinian victims of the three-week war between Israel and Hamas earlier this year.

Israel has refused cooperation with previous council probes, calling them biased.

"It is in the interest of all Palestinians and Israelis that the allegations of war crimes and serious human rights violations related to the recent conflict on all sides be investigated," Goldstone said in a statement.

“I am confident that the mission will be in a position to assess in an independent and impartial manner all human rights and humanitarian law violations committed in the context of the (Gaza) conflict," the president of the Human Rights Council, Nigerian ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, said in a statement.

Goldstone will be accompanied by British human rights professor Christine Chinkin, Pakistani lawyer Hina Jilani and retired Irish Army colonel Desmond Travers.

Here is a bit more on members of this "4 person team" led by Goldstone, from the Institute for International Criminal Investigations website:

Richard J. Goldstone is a former member of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He is the author of For Humanity: Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator (Castle Lectures in Ethics, Politics, and Economics) (Yale University Press, September 2000), with a foreword written by The Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor.

Desmond Travers is a recently retired Colonel of the Army of the Irish Defence Forces. His last appointment was as Commandant of its Military College. In a career spanning over forty years, he served in various command and instructional appointments in the Infantry Corps. He was a founder of two of the Forces' teaching and training institutions.
He also served in command of troops and in key operational appointments with various UN and EU peace support missions. These were in the Middle-East (Cyprus, Lebanon) and in the Former Yugoslavia (Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina).He is a student of military history and his works are published internationally from time to time.

Hina Jilani is a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Pakistan experienced in constitutional and human rights litigation. A founder of the first women’s law firm and legal aid centre in Pakistan, she is also a Founding Member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has been a special representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, a member of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, and a member of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism, appointed by the International Commission of Jurists.
She serves as Chair of the International Council for Human Rights Policy, Geneva, has written extensively on human rights and democracy, and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards.

And information on Christine Chinkin, taken from the London School of Economics and Political Science website:

;Chinkin, Christine
Professor Christine Chinkin
Department Position held
Department of Law
Professor of International Law

Centre for the Study of Human Rights
Experience keywords: human rights law and institutions; international dispute resolution; dispute resolution; women's human rights; international human rights; united nations law; public international law; feminist legal issues

Call me skeptical,regarding this investigation, but that’s my knee jerk reaction to this announcement. And I have my reasons for that skepticism, Here’s why: I don’t believe in impartiality when it comes to situations like this where you have a state, or member of a state accused of those crimes, leading, or investigating those crimes. For a Jewish Judge to lead this investigation just reminds me of so many “investigations” that have been in Ireland over the killing of innocent people by the British forces or worse, collusion.Albeit, those investigations were no held in the UN, but still it shows the inability of members of accused states to conduct fair and impartial investigations of their own state. For instance; the murders of Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane, two civil rights lawyers, still no justice years later. Bloody Sunday springs to mind on 30 January 1972 in which 27 civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march. 30 years one and several so called “investigations” by the British, we are left with no justice still.

• John (Jackie) Duddy (17). Shot in the chest in the car park of Rossville flats.

• Patrick Joseph Doherty (31). Shot from behind while attempting to crawl to safety in the forecourt of Rossville flats.

• Bernard McGuigan (41). Shot in the back of the head when he went to help Patrick Doherty. He had been waving a white handkerchief at the soldiers to indicate his peaceful intentions.

• Hugh Pious Gilmour (17). Shot through his right elbow, the bullet then entering his chest as he ran from the paratroopers on Rossville Street.

• Kevin McElhinney (17). Shot from behind while attempting to crawl to safety at the front entrance of the Rossville Flats.

• Michael G. Kelly (17). Shot in the stomach while standing near the rubble barricade in front of Rossville Flats.

• John Pius Young (17). Shot in the head while standing at the rubble barricade.

• William Noel Nash (19). Shot in the chest near the barricade. Witnesses stated Nash was unarmed and going to the aid of another when killed.

• Michael M. McDaid (20). Shot in the face at the barricade as he was walking away from the paratroopers.

• James Joseph Wray (22). Wounded then shot again at close range while lying on the ground. Wray was calling out to say that he could not move his legs before he was shot the second time.

• Gerald Donaghy (17). Shot in the stomach while attempting to run to safety between Glenfada Park and Abbey Park.

• Gerald (James) McKinney (34). Shot just after Gerald Donaghy. Witnesses stated that McKinney had been running behind Donaghy, and he stopped and held up his arms, shouting "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!", when he saw Donaghy fall. He was then shot in the chest.

• William A. McKinney (27). Shot from behind as he attempted to aid Gerald McKinney. He had left cover to try to help the older man

• John Johnston (59). Shot in the leg and left shoulder on William Street 15 minutes before the rest of the shooting started. He died of his wounds 4½ months later.

So, like I said, I'm skeptical until proven wrong......................
UPDATED: Well this is a bit encouraging, from March 16th 2009 LINK HERE

UPDATED X2: This is very interesting indeed. It seems the Israelis are none too pleased with this new group that was created in January in response to the genocide in Gaza. Perhaps Goldstone will do the deed properly. Note what he has to say in the piece below:

The Israeli government has in the past refused to co-operate with UN human rights council investigations, including one led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

It is not clear whether Israel will co-operate with the new investigation.

"This committee is instructed not to seek out the truth but to single out Israel for alleged crimes," said Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

He said the council was a discredited body.

'Shock' appointment

Mr Goldstone is a former UN chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He is also a former judge at the South African constitutional court.

He is also on the board of governors at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Mr Goldstone said he was "shocked, as a Jew", to be invited to head the mission.

"I've taken a deep interest in what happens in Israel. I'm associated with organisations that have worked in Israel.

"And I believe I can approach the daunting task that I have accepted in an even-handed and impartial manner." SOURCE

UPDATED X3 Well maybe not LOL, look at how the the JTA is reporting this:

(JTA) -- A Jewish South African with close ties to Israel will head a U.N. inquiry into war crimes during Israel's recent war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

He said his Jewishness and ties to Israel were added values. "I've taken a deep interest in what happens in Israel," he said. "I'm associated with organizations that have worked in Israel. And I believe I can approach the daunting task that I have accepted in an evenhanded and impartial manner."

Again, time will tell us all.............