British Jewish Groups Have Been Lobbying Hard

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) said last week: "What I would like to put on record is that the OIC was the initiator of this process [the Goldstone Report]."

The U.S. Congress voted 344 to 36 to condemn the OIC-initiated Goldstone Report.

Of the 36 who voted against condemning it, and the 30 who did not vote, eight are among the eleven Representatives listed in the book "Muslim Mafia" as the top recipients of Arab-Muslim cash.

As for the report itself, from the Washington Times (19th October):

"On a factual level, the Goldstone report is notoriously flawed and one-sided. Much of the 575-page document was cut and pasted from unsubstantiated and suspect reports from nongovernmental organizations with openly anti-Israel sentiments. Some of the "witnesses" interviewed by the mission were disguised Hamas officials. The fact that Hamas loves the report should raise eyebrows about its contents.
Even more troublingly is the report's fatal moral blind spot, which is ignoring the differences between Israel, a sovereign state, and Hamas, a terrorist organization. The Israeli armed forces are professional organizations governed by strict policies to limit civilian deaths during the conduct of war. Israel is a signatory to the Geneva conventions and respects the rights of noncombatants. After the conflict, Israel conducted some 100 investigations into reports of misconduct by its troops.

Killing civilians is central to Hamas' military doctrine. Hamas launched 7,000 rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli cities between the pullout from Gaza in 2005 and 2009. During the ground fighting in Gaza, Hamas routinely used mosques, schools and hospitals as military sites and employed civilians as human shields. Hamas exploited the chaos of the conflict to round up Palestinian political opponents, some of whom were crippled with shots to the legs, while others were reportedly executed.

There is no moral equality between Hamas and Israel any more than there is between al Qaeda and the United States. Yet under the Goldstone logic, terrorists and sovereign states are identical. The incidental, unintentional civilian deaths Israel caused during the Gaza conflict are condemned as war crimes; the widespread and intentional Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians are basically ignored. The Goldstone model makes it impossible for civilized states to strike effectively against the world's barbarians who are fighting a shadow war against decency that views innocent noncombatants as both legitimate targets and useful shields.

The United States voted against the report and will presumably use its veto power if action is taken before the Security Council...."

JL

You are quite correct in reminding us that Hamas is the legitimately elected government of the Palestinians - but then again so was Hitler in pre war Nazi Germany

There is a desperate need for a proper & balanced investigation into not only what occured in Gaza, but the entire issue of human rights & war crimes in the Israel Palestine conflict. Not only do we need to challenge the Israelis over their conduct, but also the Palestinian leadership. For too long we as a global collective have acquiesced to the repeated assertion that Palestinian violence directed almost exclusively towards civilians in a number of indescriminate acts is a legitimate act of resistance, while the Israeli violence is illegitimate. By doing this we create an incentive for groups to form a panapoly of independent militias whose actions can be denied by the political leadership. This situation creates inherent instability for a nascent nation state, and ulitmately makes the civilian political leadership hostages to the will of the militias.
Recent developments in the understanding of human rights appear to afford civilians who are part-time militia members the opportunity to prosecute war against an enemy at will and seek the protection of HR legislation simply by putting their weapons down and perhaps changing their clothes. This clearly exploits modern rules of war to the benefit of the resistance fighter/ guerilla/ terrorist.
A sixteen year old in civilian clothes who stands on a corner and via a walkie-talkie provides battle field intelligence to his sides armed forces is on one hand clearly a spy, but on the other a civilian minor to be provided full protection. If the default position is that civilians, especially women and minors are primarily non-combatants regardless of their actions, this then provides distinct incentive to political and military leadership to deploy or exploit them as tools of war. In fact we can see this tendency across the the Palestinian leadership.
To compund the above the funding of independent militias by other nation states that seek to use these forces as proxies in the achievemtn of their own political objectives is an issue that needs to be addressed. The coincidence between the rise in Hamas & Hezbollah violence and Iran's difficulties on the international and region political stages is striking. A Few days ago the Israelis intercepted a ship carrying weapons for Hezbollah from Iran. Yesterday the international news media stated that it appeared that Iran has been developing more advanced nuclear weapons systems than Iran has owned up to. Destabilisation of the Levant is being used by Iran, and Syria, as a distraction from their own misdeeds. If Hezbollah and Hamas are in relaity proxies for the Iran-Syria alliance should it be the case then in international law that Israel, or any other counbtry in the same position, be permitted to regard such acts of violence as defacto declarations of war by those nation states, and thus entitled to respond accordingly. IMO were the ICC to find that the actions of proxies do constitute an act of war, then I believe that we would see a rapid decline in the level of violence across the ME.
We need the ICC to conduct an investigation into these issues to obtain clarity and direction to determine the future course of international relations. But it must be clear that any of the nation states seeking Israels prosecution must themselves be subject to all the same international laws on human rights, and where they are not to submit themselves to the same judicial processes. If the ICC were to find that all and any persons not members of formally constituted national armies are to be afforded full or partial protection as civilians, it has consequences for all nations in respect of peace-keeping activities and counter-terrorism. IMO it would mean that USA & UK would need to be brought before the ICC, which many may welcome, but could act as a catalyst for both to withdraw from peace-keeping activities around the globe, and the entirety of NATO and other leading states would follow suit.

At this moment the Israelis and their supporters can dismiss Goldstone and the calls for ICC involvement as simply a political act by a number of nations states that do not measure up now or in the past to the same criteria they seek to apply to Israel. If on this basis Israel were to be taken to the ICC it would mark the end of any prospect for a negotiated settlement and the emergence of an independent and stable Palestinian state. It would also serve to further destablise the region by rewarding those militias, proxies and their sponsors.
The UN has called upon both Israel and Hamas to conduct investigations. While the Israelis have proven in the past that they are capable of this, there must be serious doubt aabout Hamas's will or capacity. What there should be on both sides of the divide is a period of soul searching and self-challenge about what is desired for the future. If the majority of Palestinians support Hamas and its political agenda, then sadly we must all accept decades of death and destruction. If the majority do not, then we must do all we can to support the development of a stable Palestinian nation state in which there is an absolute commitment to peace and an end to violence.

The difference is that while Muslims refuse to wake up from a deep coma induced by ignorance and cowardice, people such as the Milliibands and Co continue to be given important ministerial roles. The Jews instead are paranoid Muslim watchers even for small men:

Hardcore' Islamist gets top anti-terror post at Home Office
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/21616/hardcore-islamist-gets-top-anti-...

Ever saw a Muslim paper outing appointed hardcore Jewish racists in Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dems, BNP etc?

Since the last stupid act of the Palestinians to invite an Israel response to the thousands of rockets and missiles from Gaza it is interesting and gratifying that the number of civilian casualties and deaths of Palestinians due to their terrorism has dramatically fallen.

I remove from this equation any terrorists killed by Israel response to rocket fire, 'work accidents' and collapsed tunnels. Why is this?

Because the Palestinians have learnt that they get nowhere with violence. Palestinians in the West Bank have learnt that by not sending suicide bombers to Israel then they don't get justified responses. The security barrier has resulted in calm in West Bank and they have an increasingly thriving economy.

Gazans have learnt that any rocket fire gets an immediate response from Israel.

Looks like the Palestinians have been tamed and perhaps made to see reason. Its good for everyone. If only they had leaders who could go the next step and negotiate peace.