The Goldstone Report - 2011

The Goldstone Report - A look back at an earlier Zionist Jews report on an earlier war in the Gaza strip

By Dark Politricks

As the Middle East, and the streets of European cities shake, either from IDF attacks on churches and homes in Gaza, or from the thousands of feet protesting Palestinian apartheid at the hands of Israel. It might be good to look back at an earlier invasion of Gaza by the IDF, Operation Cast Lead in 2009, and what happened - according to one of their own Jewish Zionists who had helped stop South African apartheid, Richard Goldstone.

After what became known as the Goldstone Report came out, this staunch supporter of Israel, was called a self-hating Jew, and even an anti-Semite by the then Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. 

Why? 

Well it was because he dared to tell the truth about the war, and the atrocities committed by both sides, Hamas and the IDF. He told of the summary executions of teenagers and men, lined up against walls and just killed, no due process. He also told of the killing of women and children, and the bombing of hospitals and homes. The collective punishment of a whole 2+ million people, for the deeds of a few.

This was over a decade ago, an earlier ground invasion of Gaza by Israel, and was again supposed to wipe out Hamas (which Mossad helped create to cause a split from Fatah), and stop the barrage of rocket attacks into Southern Israel. Sound familiar? 

I've had to go to the Wayback Machine to find this article from my site in 2010, I also had to check links to Israeli papers and other news sites that were not available anymore, even the UN had removed a report on the wars results, after what I suspect was an attempt to clean the web from a historical event. However luckily I came across old copies, which you can access yourself from the Wayback Machine.

Here is the old article from 2010 with links to original articles.

The Goldstone report and the Israeli accusations against its author

By Dark Politricks

The Goldstone report was commissioned by the UN to look into accusations of war crimes during the invasion of Gaza by Israel during 2009 which left over a thousand Palestinians dead mostly children and women. 

The Gaza strip is still being blockaded by Israel to this day with limited supplies of water, food and medical aid being allowed into what basically is a very large prison camp. There is basically no or very little economy inside Gaza and the people cannot move about freely or leave without permission from their guards even those suffering appalling injuries or sever health problems have had their request to leave for treatment delayed or refused by the Israelis.

The report by the Jewish Zionist South African judge Richard Goldstone, who has obviously been labelled a self hating Jew by the pro-Israel can do no wrong lobby, looked at crimes on both sides of the war and found that Hamas committed war crimes by firing rockets indiscriminately into Israeli populated areas but also that Israel broke international law by committing numerous crimes including:

• Shooting unarmed and even tied up civilians.
• Shooting teenagers who were carrying wounded civilians.
• Bombing Hospitals and homes.
• Collective punishment of a whole population for the misdeeds of some.

Israel was also accused of using banned weapons in civilian areas such as the White Phosphorus attack on the UN compound and on civilian areas which is expressly forbidden by international law.

Obviously Israel and Zionist supporters have not taken too kindly to being accused of committing war crimes and they used their influence and power in US politics to get Congress to support a bill striking down the report as “biased and unworthy of further consideration”.

The bill was passed 344-36. Dennis Kucinich who was one of the few good politicians to vote against the resolution made a powerful speech against the bill which I have outputted below:

“Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt,” he said on the House floor on Tuesday. “Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist.”

“Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian.”

“The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the ‘Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution.”

“Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution.”

“How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?”

“How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?”

“We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim.”

It seems that Congress would rather take the side of Israel no matter what they did and when they vote in such numbers for a bill that few of them have even bothered to read purely on the basis that it is in support for Israel then one can only wonder why. Dennis Kucinich paid a price for his balanced perspective on foreign policy matters as he was later dropped from a Democratic fund-raiser in Palm Beach County because of his supposedly anti-Israeli stance in voting for the Goldstone report.

Indeed the political pressure from the Israeli lobby was also being put on the author of the report itself with the leader of the ADL (Anti Defamation League), Abraham Foxman, calling on Judge Goldstone to repudiate his own report with the following statement:

“I have had great respect for you over the years. Your work at the head of the South Africa Reconciliation Commission and in helping to find a just solution to the Bosnian conflict deserves the highest commendation.”

“Moreover, I know you to be a proud Jew who serves on the Board of Trustees of Hebrew University and who has a daughter living in Israel.”

“With this background, I wondered in the first place how you could take on the chairmanship of the investigation of the war in Gaza mandated by the UN Human Rights Council,” he said. “After all, the Human Rights Council has repeatedly demonstrated its bias against Israel and in its stated mission for the investigation began with assumptions presuming Israeli guilt.”

The pressure also came from those within the Israeli government and the finance minister Yuval Steinitz made the following statement when asked about Goldstone:

“Some people can be unfair, unjust, unbalanced and even of bad character. So it is with Jews. Just as a non-Jew can be anti-Semitic, a Jew can also be anti-Semitic and discriminate against our people and despise and hate our people.”

It seems that nothing is good enough for the Israelis and even though the UN put a vehemently pro Israeli Zionist such as Goldstone in charge to investigate matters it just wasn’t good enough to elivate fears of anti-Israeli bias. This really does play into the hands of true anti-Semites as it seems to observers that Israelis believe they can do no wrong. No country can be above reproach and get away with war crimes and that includes the USA, the UK and Israel however it looks like that anyone who questions Israeli behaviour is either an anti-semite if they aren’t Jewish or a self hater if they are, no matter how much legitimate authority they have to do so.

This hypocrisy and double standards can be seen by the way that an Israeli treats war crimes. The crimes of the second world war which affected the Jewish community so much helped to change international law in that someone accused of a war crime in one country can be tried in another. This concept of universal jurisdiction is one which Israel has used itself in its prosecution of suspected NAZI war criminals and they were one of the first countries to support the formation of permanent court of law for crimes against humanity.

However as soon as occupied territories (Palestine) were added to the mandate that the court could cover they suddenly changed their mind about this lofty ideal that crimes against humanity hold no national boundaries and voted against the founding of a permanent International Court of Justice joining the likes of China and Libya.

The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was none too pleased about the Goldstone report either and when he visited the UN to make a speech in September 2009 he told the assembly exactly what he thought about the report and the Human rights council who he said was “a misnamed institution if there ever was one.”

“Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims. That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted….”

“…Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers. 

“That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances. Israel, by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas.“

“We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave. Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy’s civilian population from harm’s way. “

“Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn? Israel. A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot.”

“Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims. That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.”

Rather than debate the reports findings and whether or not Israel has the right to defend itself which it undoubtedly does just like the Palestinians do when they are attacked, we should let the reports author explain its findings himself. 

The following videos are of an interview between Judge Goldstone and Bill Moyers, in which the judge discusses his report in detail and explains why the actions taken by the Israeli Defence Force were war crimes, rather than just acts of war and collateral damage.

Even the full Goldstone report into the Gaza conflict, which Israel seems to have tried to wipe all knowledge from the web, can be found here: the UN report into Gaza.

By Dark Politricks

Palestine had no choice but to seek membership at the UN

Palestine had no choice but to seek membership at the UN

By Dark Politricks

I am glad Palestine got their UN non member status despite threats and sanctions by the US and Israel but it my eyes it was the only thing they could do.

They had run out of options. The Intifada has obviously not worked and although worldwide public opinion had wildly swung behind their cause in recent years due to the Israeli's blatant disregard of international law and actions that have disgusted people nothing had changed in the Palestinians favour whilst Israel continues it's breaches of International law unabated. 

Actions such as Operation Cast Lead, the ignored Goldstone Report, the Mavi Marmara assassinations (including of US citizens), the killing of peace demonstrators like Rachel Corrie and the recent attack on the blockaded Gaza.

These are all actions that instead of dividing and conquering, which was the aim when the Mossad set up Hamas to split the Palestinian resistance between Fatah and Hamas, has instead brought them back together over recent conflicts.

Whilst many people after the 2nd World War had sympathy with the Jewish Religion and their persecution that enabled them to enact out a self-fulfilling prophecy that saw Zionism break God's covenant with real Judaism by using politics, bribery, the Balfour Declaration and the Treaty of Versailles to realise their dream.  A minority were not. Over the years a new generation without first hand knowledge of the World War II has grown up. They see things very differently from their predecessors.

Whilst our parents and grand fathers suffered the horrors of the biggest world wide killing spree ever known, our generation has grown up in peace and we hold people of all countries to the same standard of behaviour including the USA and Israel. We cry out loud when we see hypocrisy at hand.

We were the generation that broke US/UK support for the Apartheid state of South Africa and held Free Nelson Mandela concerts that saw an "ex terrorist" released from a quarter of century in prison to lead his country and change the US/UK stance on the horrible anti black South Africa state. We are all hoping that international condemnation of Israeli actions will do the same for the Palestinian people.

We are the generation that sees the hypocrisy of an International Criminal Court which members like the USA can just "opt out of" because they don't want their killing squads, torture prisons, extraordinary rendition and drone strikes that kill more civilians than terrorists excused from international sanction whilst demanding it from other countries.

We are the generation that sees the outright double standards of the USA calling out other countries on "human right" abuses whilst they commit the same abuses in the name of "spreading democracy".

We also realise that the "War on Terror" con has been a way to allow politicians at home to gain dictatorial powers including the power to assassinate at will, spy on their citizens without warrants and use super computers the size of cities to trawl through personal data looking for "signs" of "terrorist activity". It is clear to us that the war on terror has been a massive fraud that has allowed our leaders to enact draconian policies at home that would otherwise cause outrage as the US constitution is flushed down the toilet.

And when it comes to Israel we are the generation that knows that the country in the desert DID have people living there before the Jews came after the war.

We also know that the IDF was born out of terrorist gangs like the Stern Gang and Irgun. Gangs that killed British soldiers and massacred Palestinians, driving them out their homes and refusing their return. Terrorist gangs that spawned some of the first leaders of Israel as well as the Israeli Defence Forces.

We see the two faced US UN ambassador claim on one hand we must intervene in Syria, Libya and Iran whilst ignoring the blatant massacres and human rights abuses in their allied countries of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and most importantly Israel. We know why they do it and we laugh when they accuse others of allowing crimes against humanity to continue whilst turning a blind eye to their own allies crimes.

Every time the US uses it's veto in the Security council to prevent sanctions on Israel it dilutes any creditably they have when they attack Russia or China for doing the same with their own allies such as Syria. You cannot have it both ways Uncle Sam!

Now Palestine is a non member status we can expect sanctions, the expansion of illegal settlements and other acts illegal under international law but allowed because of the USA's backing. Who is pulling the strings Israel or the USA and why does Obama not have the balls to stand up to Israeli behaviour now he doesn't have to worry about election funding?

Anyone expecting Obama to stand up to AIPAC and the Israeli lobby and demand they move ahead with a proper peace process is likely to be disappointed.

Bibi and co probably have a book a foot wide of indiscretions Obama committed before gaining the highest office in the land and that is probably the reason America always seems to elect drug users, ex alcoholics and sexual deviants as President. They are all easily bribed.

We cannot expect the US to be a fair broker anymore in this age old conflict and despite what Zionists say the Palestinians had no other route to getting some form of resolution to their plight.

They are supposed to be agreeing final borders as defined in the Camp David and Oslo accords but Israel has delivered nothing to them but expanded illegal settlements and a giant wall blocking them from their neighbours as well as the illegal blockade of Gaza.

Likud, the ruling party of Israel is a right wing party that survives only on drumming up the thought of annihilation from non existent threats.

Without the existential threat of Iran being rammed down Israelis throats every day and the tit for tat skirmishes when Israel chose to kill the Hamas leader who brokered a cease fire just so that Hamas would retaliate and they could bomb the concentration camp of Gaza. 

This happened just before their next general elections and it is no surprise there but without this constant war footing there would be no need for these right wing nutters. Therefore it is in their interest to always exaggerate threats from abroad and claim the only way to defend themselves is by war not peace.

Israel has no-one to blame but themselves. It is their attitude and actions that has finally broken the straw and caused Palestine to go to the UN. If they truly wanted real peace and security they would have sat down and talk many years ago - however they were looking for any excuse not to go down this route.

If they want continual war, pariah status on the level of South Africa before the end of apartheid and even possible total destruction they are going about it the right way. The ball is in their court now if they really want peace they have every opportunity to show it to the world that is fastly turning against them.

You can view the original article about "Palestine had no choice but to seek membership at the UN" at the main Dark Politricks site here: www.darkpolitricks.com