Method and Madness: The Hidden Story of Israel's Assaults on Gaza (15 page)

 
13.
  Dinah PoKempner, general counsel of Human Rights Watch, noted that it was “hardly surprising” that the space devoted to Hamas was “fairly brief because there is little factual dispute about whether the Gaza authorities tolerated firing of rockets onto Israel’s civilian areas, and no legal ambiguity to discuss” (“Valuing the Goldstone Report,”
Global Governance
16 (2010), p. 153).

 
14.
  Moyers,
Journal
.

 
15.
  “Hungry Like the Wolfowitz,”
Georgetown Voice
(6 November 2003).

 
16.
  “What Women Should Do in a Difficult Situation” (4 September 1932), in
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi
, vol. 51, pp. 18–19, “Discussion with Mahadev Desai” (4 September 1932), in ibid., vol. 51, pp. 24–25, “Discussion with B. G. Kher and Others” (15 August 1940), in ibid., vol. 72, p. 388, “Discussion with Bharatanand” (2 September 1940), in ibid., vol. 72, p. 434, “Message to States’ People” (1 October 1941), in ibid., vol. 74, p. 368, “Speech at Prayer Meeting” (5 November 1947), in ibid., vol. 89, p. 481.

 
17.
  “Speech at Goalundo” (6 November 1946), in ibid., vol. 86, p. 86.

 
18.
  See
Chapter 1
above.

 
19.
  Goldstone Report, para. 205.

 
20.
  The Report makes passing mention in this context of “the right of return for refugees” (ibid., paras. 92, 1509).

 
21.
  Ibid., paras. 206–7.

 
22.
  Ibid., para. 1440.

 
23.
  Ibid., para. 1503.

 
24.
  Ibid., paras. 1504–5.

 
25.
  Ibid., paras. 1535–37. The Mission explicitly stated that it “considers East Jerusalem part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories” (ibid., p. 369n1062).

 
26.
  Ibid., para. 1546.

 
27.
  Ibid., para. 1946.

 
28.
  Ibid., para. 1947.

 
29.
  Ibid., para. 1876.

 
30.
  Ibid., paras. 127, 1857, 1975.

 
31.
  Ibid., para. 1969.

 
32.
  Ibid., paras. 128, 1873, 1971(b).

 
33.
  Ibid., paras. 1971–74. The Report explicitly called on Israel to “release Palestinians who are detained in Israeli prisons in connection with the occupation.”

 
34.
  Amira Hass, “The One Thing Worse Than Denying the Gaza Report,”
Haaretz
(17 September 2009), Gideon Levy, “Disgrace in the Hague,”
Haaretz
(17 September 2009), Gideon Levy, “Goldstone’s Gaza Probe Did Israel a Favor,”
Haaretz
(1 October 2009), Yitzhak Laor, “The National Choir,”
Haaretz
(22 September 2009), Yitzhak Laor, “Turning Off the Lights,”
Haaretz
(7 October 2009), Zeev Sternhell, “A Permanent Moral Stain,”
Haaretz
(25 September 2009), Larry Derfner, “A Wake-up Call from Judge Goldstone,”
Jerusalem Post
(16 September 2009), Larry Derfner, “Our Exclusive Right to Self-Defense,”
Jerusalem Post
(7 October 2009), Larry Derfner, “Some Victims We Are,”
Jerusalem Post
(28 October 2009). Both the head of the dovish Meretz party and
Haaretz
editorials called on the Israeli government to set up a commission of inquiry. Gil Hoffman and Haviv Rettig Gur, “Oron Calls for Israeli Cast Lead Probe,”
Jerusalem Post
(18 September 2009), “A Committee of Inquiry is Needed,”
Haaretz
(18 September 2009), “Only an External Probe Will Do,”
Haaretz
(3 October 2009), “Israel’s Whitewash,”
Haaretz
(28 January 2010).

 
35.
  “Statement by President Shimon Peres: ‘Goldstone Mission Report is a mockery of history,’”
mfa.gov.il
(16 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/y9yxzpa
); Shuki Sadeh, “Peres: Goldstone is a small man out to hurt Israel,”
Haaretz
(12 November 2009).

 
36.
  Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya, “Netanyahu Calls UN Gaza Probe a ‘Kangaroo Court’ against Israel,”
Haaretz
(16 September 2009).

 
37.
  “Rights Council to Debate Gaza War,”
Aljazeera.net
(15 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/ykfjth3
); Barak Ravid, “Israel Slams Goldstone ‘Misrepresentations’ of Internal Probes into Gaza War,”
Haaretz
(7 February 2010).

 
38.
  Barak Ravid, “Israel Prepares to Fight War Crimes Trials after Goldstone Gaza Report,”
Haaretz
(20 October 2009); Barak Ravid, “Israel to Set Up Team to Review Gaza War Probe,”
Haaretz
(26 October 2009). Zeev Sternhell, “With a Conscience That Is Always Clear,”
Haaretz
(30 October 2009). Reacting to Netanyahu’s proposal, Goldstone observed that “It seems to me to contain an implicit acceptance that they broke the law that now is, and that’s why it needs to be changed” (Moyers,
Journal
).

 
39.
  Rebecca Anna Stoil and Tovah Lazaroff, “EU to Debate Goldstone Report,”
Jerusalem Post
(24 February 2010).

 
40.
  “Dershowitz: Goldstone is a traitor,”
Jerusalem Post
(31 January 2010).

 
41.
  Hoffman and Gur, “Oron Calls”; Donald MacIntyre, “Israelis Hit Back at UN Report Alleging War Crimes in Gaza,”
Independent
(17 September 2009); Ravid and Mozgovaya, “Netanyahu Calls.”

 
42.
  Michael Oren, “UN Report a Victory for Terror,”
Boston Globe
(24 September 2009); Michael Oren, “Address to AJC” (28 April 2010;
http://tinyurl.com/37xngbo
); Michael B. Oren, “Deep Denial: Why the Holocaust still matters,”
New Republic
(6 October 2009). For critical analysis of Oren’s scholarship, see Norman G. Finkelstein,
Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish romance with Israel is coming to an end
(New York: 2012), pp. 161–81.

 
43.
  Israel Harel, “Venom and Destruction,”
Haaretz
(18 September 2009); Israel Harel, “Don’t Establish an Investigative Panel,”
Haaretz
(1 October 2009); Jack Khoury, “Goldstone Tells Obama: Show me flaws in Gaza report,”
Haaretz
(22 October 2009).

 
44.
  Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism,
Antisemitism Worldwide 2009
(2010;
www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/
), pp. 29, 37, 39.

 
45.
  “Israel’s Jewish Public: Goldstone report biased against IDF,”
ynetnews.com
(18 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yh36quh
).

 
46.
  Yehezkel Dror, “Why Israel Should Have Cooperated with Goldstone on Gaza,”
Haaretz
(21 September 2009).

 
47.
  Uri Avnery, “UM-Shmum, UM-Boom,”
Gush Shalom
(19 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/m32fwl
).

 
48.
  “Wiesel: If Ahmadinejad were assassinated, I wouldn’t shed a tear,”
Haaretz
(9 February 2010), “I Wouldn’t Cry If He Was Killed,”
Jerusalem Post
(9 February 2010).

 
49.
  Alan M. Dershowitz, “Goldstone Investigation Undercuts Human Rights,”
Jerusalem Post
blog (“Double Standard Watch”) (17 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/m27byk
); Alan Dershowitz, “Goldstone Criticizes UN Council on Human Rights,”
Huffington Post
(22 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yjqmx4s
); Alan M. Dershowitz, “Goldstone Backs Away from Report: The two faces of an international poseur,”
Jerusalem Post
blog (“Double Standard Watch”) (15 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yhqec6o
); “Dershowitz: Goldstone is a traitor,”
Jerusalem Post
; Josh Nathan-Kazis, “Dershowitz Explains Critical Goldstone Remark,”
Forward
(3 February 2010); Tehiya Barak, “Judge Goldstone’s Dark Past,”
ynetnews.com
(6 May 2010;
http://tinyurl.com/27h4nde
).

 
50.
  Alan Dershowitz,
The Case against the Goldstone Report: A study in evidentiary bias
(
www.alandershowitz.com/goldstone.pdf
).

 
51.
  Bernard-Henri Lévy, “It’s Time to Stop Demonizing Israel,”
Haaretz
(8 June 2010). Joshua Muravchik, “Goldstone: An exegesis,”
World Affairs
(May/June 2010). Muravchik also made the astonishing claim that Goldstone never asked witnesses to Israeli attacks “whether a Palestinian gunman was nearby.” In fact, every account of an Israeli attack in the Goldstone Report includes testimony bearing on the presence of Palestinian fighters in the vicinity. See also Jeffrey Goldberg, “J Street, Down the Rabbit Hole,”
Atlantic
blog (30 September 2010), falsely alleging that “Goldstone’s work [was] heavily reliant on Hamas for uncorroborated information.”

 
52.
  Moyers,
Journal
.

 
53.
  Eric Fingerhut, “AIPAC Condemns Goldstone Report,”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(17 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/y8rkgwo
).

 
54.
  American Jewish Committee, “Letter to Secretary Clinton Urges Condemnation of Goldstone Report” (23 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/ya4bqqz
).

 
55.
  “Rice: ‘Serious concerns’ about the Goldstone Report,”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(17 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yakxdlv
).

 
56.
  House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, “Ackerman Blasts Goldstone Report as ‘Pompous, Tendentious, One-sided Political Diatribe’” (16 September 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yhs9ckd
).

 
57.
  “H. RES. 867, 111th Congress” (23 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yhu3c7e
); Natasha Mozgovaya and Barak Ravid, “US House Backs Resolution to Condemn Goldstone Gaza Report,”
Haaretz
(5 November 2009); Nima Shirazi, “Goldstonewalled! US Congress endorses Israeli war crimes,”
MRzine
(12 November 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/y8kenjd
).

 
58.
  “Goldstone Sends Letter to Berman, Ros-Lehtinen Correcting Factual Errors in HR 867, Which Opposes UN Fact-Finding Report on Gaza,”
uruknet.info
(29 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/y8kvt5m
). After Goldstone submitted his rebuttal, one of the resolution’s sponsors entered some cosmetic revisions in it. Spencer Ackerman, “Berman Puts New Language into Anti-Goldstone Resolution,”
washingtonindependent.com
(3 November 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yaonaa6
). J Street called for a “better, balanced resolution” than the House draft, but one that still would “urge the United States to make clear that it will use its veto to prevent any referral of this matter to the International Criminal Court.” “J Street Position on H.Res. 867” (30 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yd8u4za
).

 
59.
  Nathan Guttman, “Israel, US Working to Limit Damage of Goldstone Report,”
Haaretz
(27 September 2009).

 
60.
  US Department of State,
2009 Human Rights Report
(
http://tinyurl.com/yhddnjt
).

 
61.
  Khoury, “Goldstone Tells Obama”; “Goldstone Dares US on Gaza Report,”
Aljazeera.net
(22 October 2009;
http://tinyurl.com/yg6zafm
); Human Rights Watch, “UN: US, EU Undermine Justice for Gaza Conflict” (1 October 2009).

 
62.
  An administration official initially stated in private that the US would block UN action on the report, but the White House subsequently repudiated the statement. “US Pledges to Quash Goldstone Recommendations,”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(22 September 2009); “White House: Official ‘misspoke’ on Goldstone report,”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(23 September 2009); Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, “Israel Demands PA Drop War Crimes Suit at The Hague,”
Haaretz
(27 September 2009).

 
63.
  Howard Schneider and Colum Mynch, “UN Panel Defers Vote on Gaza Report,”
Washington Post
(3 October 2009), Amira Hass, “PA Move to Thwart Goldstone Gaza Report Shocks Palestinian Public,”
Haaretz
(4 October 2009).

 
64.
  “The Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem” (A/HRC/RES/S-12/1) (16 October 2009). It was gleefully reported by many of Goldstone’s critics that he disapproved of the resolution. The allegation was a half truth and a whole lie: Goldstone disapproved of the first draft but it was modified after he expressed reservations and he approved of the final version that was voted on (Moyers,
Journal
).