Israel readies for diplomatic war over 'biased' UN Gaza report

[Scurrilous]

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"Israel began fighting the diplomatic battle Tuesday to prevent the Goldstone Commission report on Israel's Cast Lead Operation in the Gaza Strip from being brought before the United Nations Security Council and from there to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where charges could be brought against Israeli officials involved in the military campaign. The report, compiled by a commission headed by former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, accuses both Israel and the Palestinians of actions amounting to war crimes during the December 27 to January 18 battle in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Tuesday night a team lead by Foreign Ministry legal advisor Ehud Keinan, and which included representatives from the Justice Ministry and the military prosecutor's office, delivered a preliminary analysis of the Goldstone Commission report to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman. Netanyahu also held consultations Tuesday night on the commission's findings. "The goal is to avoid a slippery slope which would lead Israel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague," a senior Israeli staffer said.

On the day after Yom Kippur, the UN Human Rights Council, which appointed Goldstone, will be convening in Geneva for a special session on the report. Foreign Ministry sources said Tuesday that they expect Arab states will begin to prepare a draft resolution which will call for the report to be transferred to the UN Security Council. In a worst-case scenario, the Security Council could decide to transfer the matter to the International Criminal Court. Under such circumstances, the ICC could issue international arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials who were involved in Cast Lead.

On the diplomatic front, following the report's release, Netanyahu, Lieberman, President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak will telephone many of their counterparts around the world. They will stress that the Goldstone report is one-sided, that it rewards terrorism and that it sets a precedent which will make it difficult for any country in the world to defend itself against terror. Israel's diplomatic efforts will focus on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - but will also give priority to members of the European Union, because of their influence in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The senior Israeli leaders will ask their counterparts to express disagreement with the report and to oppose any use of it as the basis for anti-Israel resolutions at other international institutions. "It will be a long diplomatic and legal campaign," said a senior Israeli staffer handling the Goldstone report. "We will involve our friends around the world, especially the United States, to prevent Israel's isolation," he said."

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UN probe: evidence of war crimes in Gaza conflict

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x286996

[Scurrilous]

1. Israel seeks Obama backing over Gaza war probe

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"Israel Wednesday asked a number of senior members of the Obama administration to assist in curbing the international fallout from the Goldstone Commission report released this week, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

The Foreign Ministry decided Wednesday to focus their efforts to combat the report's accusations on the United States, Russia and a few other members of the United Nations Security Council and the Human Rights Council that are involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Israeli message is that the Goldstone report threatens those countries because it makes the war on terror very difficult, and therefore efforts must be made to prevent it from being brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the issue Wednesday with U.S. special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, while Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon discussed it with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and other senior officials."

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[bemildred]

2. The trouble is, they have a sound point.

If Israel is guilty of war crimes in Gaza, and it is, then various other parties are also guilty of war crimes in various other places too. Mind you, I think they all are guilty of war crimes, but getting them to admit to it is going another thing entirely.