Mr. Goldstone's honesty on Gaza
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Regarding the Oct. 31 news story "House to weigh in on U.N.'s Gaza report":
The recent attacks on the report that South African jurist Richard Goldstone prepared for the U.N. Human Rights Council, and the proposed resolution in the House, are misguided attempts to avoid discussing the findings of the report.
In an interview with PBS's Bill Moyers, Mr. Goldstone said he only accepted the position as lead investigator after writing an unbiased mandate that included an examination of Hamas's actions in addition to those of Israel. The report openly condemned Hamas's rocket fire into Israel and called for Hamas to launch further investigations. The majority of Mr. Goldstone's report was devoted to Israel's actions because the casualties inflicted by Israel on the people of Gaza were clearly disproportionate.
Like all nations, Israel is required by international law to take careful steps to avoid heavy civilian collateral damage. Collectively punishing a civilian population is not and should not be acceptable for any nation. And condemning a truthful report because it shines a light on actions that Israel would rather the world forget does not advance the cause of peace.
Jennifer Hitchcock, Falls Church
