Britain pledges continued support for Goldstone report against Israel, even as Goldstone retracts allegations

Robin Shepherd’s new online magazine, The Commentator, has just gone live, and today’s lead story, on the appalling decision by the UK Foreign Office to continue their support for the Goldstone Report even after Goldstone retracted its most serious allegation, is well worth the read:

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague

The British Government is standing by the United Nations Goldstone Report alleging that Israel committed “war crimes” in its Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 even though Justice Richard Goldstone has now distanced himself from his report’s most controversial conclusions.

On Friday, Goldstone wrote a piece in the Washington Post in which he stunned diplomats, politicians and analysts by withdrawing the allegation that Israel had deliberately targeted civilians during the 22-day conflict. He said: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

The Foreign Office, however, confirmed its continued support for investigations into Cast Lead and said it did not want to see the withdrawal of the Goldstone Report from the United Nations.

“Justice Goldstone has not made such a call, and he has not elaborated on his views surrounding the various other allegations contained in the report, allegations which we firmly believe require serious follow-up by the parties to the conflict,” a Foreign Office spokesman told the Commentator on Monday evening.

In his piece, entitled “Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and War Crimes”, Goldstone admitted that it was now clear that “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy”. With reference to evidence provided by Israel, he added: “…I regret that our fact-finding mission did not have such evidence explaining the circumstances in which we said civilians in Gaza were targeted, because it probably would have influenced our findings about intentionality and war crimes”.

Read the rest of the story, here.

Written By
More from Adam Levick
The Guardian’s anti-Israel Jews, and a letter to my teenage nephew
CiF’s Jewish Israel defamers When joining the team here at CiF Watch,...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *