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Goldstone Report Commission: Read the allegations – Read the facts – Judge for yourself
December 11th, 2009 by Canadians f or Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Ottawa, December 9th, 2009 – On Dec. 3rd, 2009, the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) distributed an email to all members of
Parliament entitled, “Backgrounder – Goldstone Commission.”[1] The CIC email made false allegations about the Goldstone Report
[2], many of which are addressed plainly in the Goldstone Report itself. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
(CJPME) provides the following refutation of the CIC’ s false allegations.
CIC Allegation 1:
The Goldstone report f ails to recognize Israel’s right to self -def ense af ter y ears of rocket attacks against its civ ilians.
The Goldstone report f ails to recognize Israel’s actions in Gaza were part of a legitimate response to ongoing rocket and terrorist
attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Fact 1:
The Goldstone report is f oremost a summary of f indings of human and humanitarian rights abuses committed by Israel and the
Palestinians in the conf lict which began Dec. 27th, 2008. It neither questioned nor asserted the right of either party to engage
in the conf lict. Nev ertheless, the Goldstone report concluded that, based on the way that Israel conducted itself in the conf lict,
self -def ence could not hav e been its only justif ication:
Goldstone Report: 1883. The Gaza military operations were, according to the Israeli Gov ernment, thoroughly and extensiv ely
planned. While the Israeli Gov ernment has sought to portray its operations as essentially a response to rocket attacks in the
exercise of its right to self -def ence, the Mission considers the plan to hav e been directed, at least in part, at a dif f erent target:
the people of Gaza as a whole.[3]
Note that – as meticulously respected by the Goldstone Commission’s methodology – the standards of international law apply
to all combatants, at all times, irrespectiv e of whether initiating the conf lict was ‘legitimate’, ‘justif ied’, ‘legal’ or not.
CIC Allegation 2:
The report equates the actions of a terrorist group (Hamas) with those of a democratic country (Israel) reluctantly taking action
to def end itself f rom terrorism while at the same time taking unprecedented steps to minimize civ ilian casualties. Israel had
already endured more than 12,000 indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks during the prev ious 8 y ears.
Fact 2:
The standards of international law apply to all combatants, at all times, irrespectiv e of whether or not one or both sides believ e
they are “in the right,” or justif ied.
Goldstone Report: 1876. In carry ing out its mandate, the Mission had regard, as its only guides, f or general international law,
international human rights and humanitarian law, and the obligations they place on States, the obligations they place on non-
State actors and, abov e all, the rights and entitlements they bestow on indiv iduals. This in no way implies equating the position
of Israel as the occupy ing Power with that of the occupied Palestinian population or entities representing it. The dif f erences with
regard to the power and capacity to inf lict harm or to protect, including by securing justice when v iolations occur, are obv ious
and a comparison is neither possible nor necessary. What requires equal attention and ef f ort, howev er, is the protection of all
v ictims in accordance with international law.[4]
CJPME also points out that, in terms of deaths, casualties, and phy sical damage, the Palestinians of Gaza hav e endured
outcomes hundreds of times worse than those of their Israeli neighbours.
CIC Allegation 3:
The report also ignores ov erwhelming ev idence of Hamas’ deliberate and callous use of civ ilian inf rastructure to hide its terrorist
activ ity. Hamas located its terrorist inf rastructure in densely populated residential neighbourhoods, near and in hospitals,
schools, mosques, as well as U.N. f acilities in order to make it more dif f icult f or Israel to target them – f acts disregarded by
the Commission.
Fact 3:
The Goldstone Mission inv estigated these allegations adv anced by the Israelis, and concluded the f ollowing:
Goldstone Report: 36. Although the situations inv estigated by the Mission did not establish the use of mosques f or military
purposes or to shield military activ ities, it cannot exclude that this might hav e occurred in other cases. The Mission did not f ind
any ev idence to support the allegations that hospital f acilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups
to shield military activ ities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or f or other military purposes. On the basis
of its own inv estigations and the statements by UN of f icials, the Mission excludes that Palestinian armed groups engaged in
combat activ ities f rom UN f acilities that were used as shelters during the military operations.[5]
Goldstone Report: 449. The Mission rev iewed the pictures allegedly showing the launching of rockets “f rom within or near
residential buildings, including schools, mosques and hospitals” in the Israeli Gov ernment’s paper and in sev eral of the
submissions it receiv ed. The Mission notes that it is not reasonably possible to determine whether those photographs show what
is alleged. As the Israeli Gov ernment concedes, many of them ref er not to the December 2008 – January 2009 period, but to
prev ious alleged instances of f iring of rockets f rom Gaza.[6]
CIC Allegation 4:
The report also ignores Iran’s role in arming and f unding Hamas as part of their mutual goal of destroy ing Israel.
Fact 4:
An inv estigation of the prov enance of the rockets f ired by the Palestinians was nev er on the Mission’s agenda, nor did it hav e
the f acilities or capability of inv estigating such allegations. Goldstone has stated that, if the Gov ernment of Israel had
requested the Mission to inv estigate that issue, it would hav e done its best to do so.[7]
CIC Allegation 5:
The Goldstone report is part of a pattern at the U.N. of singling out Israel f or criticism and condemnation.
Fact 5:
The Goldstone Report examined the action both of Israel and the Palestinians, and documents ev idence of grav e “v iolations of
international human rights and humanitarian law and possible war crimes and crimes against humanity (1968 b.)” [8] committed
by both Israel and the Palestinians. It f ound that rocket and mortar f ire f rom armed groups in Gaza against Israel constitute a
“[…] deliberate attack against a civ ilian population. These acts would constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against
humanity (108).” [9]
CIC Allegation 6:
The Goldstone Commission is part of long series of biased, one-sided actions taken by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which
already has passed 27 anti-Israel resolutions out of 34 motions to censure countries since the Council’s inception in June 2006.
Fact 6:
Goldstone’s mandate was not one-sided. It reads: To inv estigate all v iolations of international human rights law and international
humanitarian law that might hav e been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in
Gaza during the period f rom 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether bef ore, during or af ter.[10]
Furthermore, f rom the Goldstone Report:
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