Peres: Goldstone Report Mocks History

by Shalhevet Zohar
The Jerusalem Post
September 18, 2009

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/1438/peres-goldstone-report-mocks-history

President Shimon Peres on Wednesday slammed the Goldstone Commission's report on Operation Cast Lead, saying it "makes a mockery of history and fails to distinguish between aggressor and those acting in self-defense."

Peres claimed the commission members would not have written such a report, which accuses Israel of war crimes, "had their children been living in Sderot, under the constant threat of Hamas rockets."

The president blamed Hamas for launching the war, claiming the terror group had committed numerous horrendous war crimes, and stressed that Israel had to defend itself.

"Hamas carried out attacks against the children of Israel, detonating bombs in city centers, hurting civilians, firing more than 12,000 rockets and mortar shells at innocent civilians with one clear aim - to kill," he wrote in a statement.

The report legitimizes terrorism, shooting and killing, while ignoring every state's right and obligation to self-defense, which are clearly anchored in the UN charter, Peres wrote.

The president went on to recall Israel's disengagement from Gaza and Hamas's bloody takeover of the Strip.

"Israel removed all of its troops and citizens from the Gaza Strip, opened the border crossings and helped construction in the Strip - the Israeli occupation in Gaza ended. But after Israel completed the disengagement from Gaza, a murderous and illegitimate terror group took control over the Strip and threw out the legitimate Fatah leadership.

"While Hamas continued to fire rockets, Israel used diplomatic efforts, including many appeals to the UN, to bring about a cease fire. Instead of building Gaza and caring for the welfare of its citizens, Hamas built tunnels to attack Israel, cruelly using children and innocent Palestinians to hide terrorists and ammunition," he wrote.

The state of Israel had to defend itself, as would any other country in the world, Peres stressed, adding that "those who criticized Israel did not propose any other way of stopping the rocket fire."

The president recalled how "Israel has been criticized for its actions against Hizbullah attacks from Lebanon and Hamas attacks from the Gaza Strip, as well as for building the security barrier in the West Bank to prevent suicide bombers from entering the country.

"This criticism did not stop the rockets from hitting the South and the North, nor did it stop terrorists from blowing themselves up in our central cities," wrote Peres. "The IDF's actions are what have brought economical prosperity to the West Bank and have enabled Gazans to have normal lives again," he concluded.

Also responding to the UN report, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev said that it would hamper Middle East peace efforts.

Speaking to Army Radio, Shalev added that "the international atmosphere is very influential. We have already begun a public diplomacy campaign in world capitals in order to explain the extent to which the report is biased, one-sided and political."

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Jerusalem made the right decision not to cooperate with the inquiry.

"The report only came out because of countries like Pakistan, Libya and Saudi Arabia, who are members of the UN Human Rights Council," Ayalon told Army Radio. "The results just prove the correctness and legitimacy of the decision not to cooperate.... The report was compiled without any connection to investigations on the ground."

"It completely ignores all Hamas terror activity that preceded the IDF operation," he continued, stressing that the main reason for Israel's boycott of the investigation "was the presence on the commission of those who insisted that the operation was not one of self-defense, but an Israeli aggressive action."

Ayalon said that Israel would now focus its energy on "making the report dissipate" and that Jerusalem was in contact with the US over the findings, emphasizing that the report could have repercussions for American troops fighting in Iran and Afghanistan.

"We must remember that all Western nations opposed the inquiry commission, and our work with the Europeans and Americans can prevent the consequences," he said, asserting that the report would have negative effects on efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peace and normalization between Jerusalem and the Arab world.

Ayalon concluded that there was "no one better" than Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to lead the campaign against the report and put Israel's side across.

Israel's former ambassador to the UN, Danny Gillerman, said that the UN Human Rights Council report contained "blatant, one-sided, anti-Israel lies."

"Members of the UNHRC include countries like Zimbabwe and Libya that spend 90 percent of their time on Israel and don't deal, for example, with the Darfur massacre," he told Army Radio.

Gillerman also said that the UNHRC should never have been set up in the first place.

"We and the US were only ones who voted against the body being established. We knew it would be very one-sided and anti-Israeli," he said, adding that former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan had said that allowing the UNHRC's establishment was one of his biggest mistakes.

Gillerman said Israel was right not to cooperate with the inquiry, saying, "The findings would never have been objective."

He stressed that while soul searching was being done by Israel and would continue, Operation Cast Lead was conducted to protect a million southerners from rocket attacks.

"We went to lengths no other country would have gone to in order to avoid civilian casualties," he went on, adding that the IDF embarked on an operation any other country would have carried out under the circumstances, but that other militaries would have caused greater collateral damage.

On a positive note, Gillerman said that the Israeli media was getting "more worked up" by the report than others. "I haven't seen other media outlets around the world dedicating so much time to the issue."

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