Goldstone reconsiders

In the Washington Post, Richard Goldstone writes:

We know a lot more about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.

The final report by the U.N. committee of independent experts — chaired by former New York judge Mary McGowan Davis — that followed up on the recommendations of the Goldstone Report has found that “Israel has dedicated significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza” while “the de facto authorities (i.e., Hamas) have not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel.”. . . .

Our report found evidence of potential war crimes and “possibly crimes against humanity” by both Israel and Hamas. That the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were intentional goes without saying — its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.

The allegations of intentionality by Israel were based on the deaths of and injuries to civilians in situations where our fact-finding mission had no evidence on which to draw any other reasonable conclusion. While the investigations published by the Israeli military and recognized in the U.N. committee’s report have established the validity of some incidents that we investigated in cases involving individual soldiers, they also indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.

Russia/Israel/Syria/Iran

• Israel’s defence minister Ehud Barak went to Russia on Sunday in a bid to halt an arms deal between Russia, Syria and Iran.
• On Monday Ehud Barak signed an arms deal between Israel and Russia
• On Monday the IAEA complained that Iran is preventing some of its inspectors from monitoring Iran’s nuclear program.
• On Tuesday the head of Iran’s nuclear program claimed that Iran has the right to bar some UN inspectors.
• According to IDF sources, NGOs are planning to sail up to 20 ships to Gaza in coming months.

(jpost.com)

British court acquits factory saboteurs – 2

At CifWatch, Jonathan Hoffman continues his consideration of the case, now in the light of the recently-published transcript of the trial judge’s summing-up.

British court acquits factory saboteurs

British court acquits factory saboteurs

In a disturbing development which has not been widely covered in U.K. media, a British judge and jury have acquitted a group of activists who broke into an arms factory near Brighton at the time of last year’s conflict in Gaza, smashing equipment and causing around £180,000 of damage.

The activists used the “lawful excuse” defense – committing an offense to prevent what they say was a more serious crime because EDO was “complicit in war crimes.” (Jerusalem Post)

The court's decision gives cause for concern, as it suggests that other anti-Israel actions of this kind may be similarly tolerated in future, and that persons and institutions perceived to be supporting Israel may not receive protection under British law.

Update (July 9): The JC reports that the judge in the trial said of the raiding group’s leader that “The jury may feel his efforts investigating the company merit the George Cross."

4th anniversary of Schalit capture

Jerusalem Post:

From Jerusalem, to Rome, to New York, supporters of captive soldier Gilad Schalit on Thursday cried out for his release as they marked the eve of the fourth anniversary of his kidnapping.

In Rome, the lights of the Colosseum were turned off. So too, the lights around the Old City walls in Jerusalem.

Lighting up the darkness at the walls was a sign showing the number of days, 1,460, that Schalit had been held by Hamas in Gaza, along with the line, “This is the time I have spent in captivity.”

In New York, a flotilla of ships, called “The True Freedom Flotilla,” sailed from Pier 40 around the Statue of Liberty and past the buildings of the United Nations.

Addressing a crowd in Rome, Gilad’s father, Noam, asked the international community not to forget his son.

“As I stand here tonight, in the capital of Italy, Rome, which is one of the central, ancient and important cities in Europe and the civilized world, I call on the international community and the European one in particular not to forget Gilad,” said Noam.

British blinkers

Julie Burchill, on the curious but predictable attitude of British media to the flotilla crisis:

Not once did I hear a British interviewer ask any of the so-called secular radicals participating in the flotilla why they are allied with Islamic supremacists who subjugate women, persecute gays, oppress non-Islamic minorities and seek to impose Islam globally.

Shalev: Lebanese ships will be stopped

Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev has said in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council that the attempt by flotilla organizers to sail from Lebanon to Gaza could escalate tensions and affect peace and security in the region, the Lebanese portal Naharnet reports. The ambassador also said that Israel would exercise its right under international law to “use all necessary means” to prevent the ships from breaking the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.

Iranian ships heading for Gaza

Via Reuters:

Iran is sending aid ships to blockaded Gaza, state radio said on Monday -- a move likely to be considered provocative by Israel which accuses Tehran of arming the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers,

One ship left port on Sunday and another will depart by Friday, loaded with food, construction material and toys, the report said. "Until the end of (Israel's) Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid," said an official at Iran's Society for the Defense of the Palestinian Nation.

Russia: Iran sanctions won’t stop delivery of S-300s

Via Jerusalem Post/AP:

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists that the UN resolution does not apply to air-defense systems, with the exception of mobile missiles.

Cropped Reuters photos

On Sunday LGF  published another cropped Reuters photo, comparing it with the original. As the blog noted:

One picture cropped to remove a knife might be explained as incompetence or a simple mistake. But now we have two pictures from the “peace activists” that were cropped by someone at Reuters to remove knives in the hands of the activists, as they attempted to take soldiers hostage.

Reuters’ response:

The images in question were made available in Istanbul, and following normal editorial practice were prepared for dissemination which included cropping at the edges. When we realized that a dagger was inadvertently cropped from the images, Reuters immediately moved the original set, as well.

The strength of non-expansionism

The United States needs Israel, says Caroline Glick, writing in the Jerusalem Post. In fact, the country remains the US’s most important strategic asset in the Middle East region:

[CSIS analyst Anthony H.] Cordesman claims that Israel only advances US strategic interests when it works toward the creation of a Palestinian state. But this is wrong. To the extent that the two-state solution assumes that Israel must contract itself to within the indefensible 1949 cease-fire lines and allow a hostile Palestinian state allied with terrorist organizations to take power in the areas it vacates, the two-state solution is predicated on making it weak and empowering radicals.

In light of this, the two-state solution as presently constituted is antithetical to America’s most vital strategic interests in the Middle East.

In our times, when Jew hatred has become acceptable and strategic blindness and madness are presented as nuanced sophistication, it is essential to maintain a firm grip on the truth. And that truth is that love the Jews or hate us, the US’s alliance with Israel has been and remains America’s most cost-effective national security investment since World War II.

Gaza links - 4

IDF foils attack close to Gaza
Report: two Iranian ships to sail to Gaza
Turkish regime changes sides, West averts eyes
Poll shows U.S, voters support Israel in conflict

Gaza links - 3

Just Journalism has a survey of conflicting impressions of eye-witness accounts of the Mavi Marmara incident.

Caroline Glick examines the way in which Iran’s nuclear weapons program serves as a carrot to supplement the stick with which Iran forces the Arab world to do its bidding. (JP)

The IDF says that some 50 of the passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara were mercenaries, probably funded by elements within the Turkish government. (JP)

Sarah Honig on “Otto Weininger Syndrome” . (JP)

MV Rachel Corrie intercepted

The MV Rachel Corrie has been intercepted by the Israel navy approximately 55 km from the Gaza Strip, according to the Jerusalem Post. Earlier reports that the vessel had been boarded appear to have been incorrect.

Ynetnews reports that the ship’s crew have ignored a Navy request to stop. The Navy has now taken over the ship.

Gaza links

Some links and headlines from the media and blogosphere:

• The Irish-owned MV Rachel Corrie is still headed for Gaza.
• Turkish newspapers have reported that three of the four Turkish jihadis killed during the boarding of the Mavi Marmara by IDF troops had declared their readiness to become shaheeds, or martyrs.
• IDF footage of demonstrators aboard the Mavi Marmara preparing and initiating the armed confrontation.

• At Standpoint, Joshua Rozenberg has republished an IDF document which gives an assessment of the legality of Israel’s military operations off Gaza this week.
• US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Israel has the right to stop the ships bound for Gaza.
• The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report is publishing intelligence digests and articles about the flotilla, which it says is largely composed of organizations tied to the GMB.
• The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan has said that Israeli troops should not be blamed for the deaths of activists on the Mavi Marmara.

Hamas behind arrest warrants for Israeli leaders

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6963473.ece

See also: Harry's Place

One year after Cast Lead

Gaza by the numbers.

Israel reprimands UK ambassador

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement condemning the arrest warrant issued against Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, Ynet News reports.  The statement reprimands British Ambassador Tom Phillips and tells him that Israel expects the UK to act against this "unethical" phenomenon, which is aimed at "violating Israel's right to defend itself."

Ambassador Phillips was summoned to the Foreign Ministry Tuesday, where Naor Gilon, deputy director for the Foreign Ministry's Western Europe desk, told him that Israeli officials will not be able to visit the UK until the threat of lawsuits and arrest warrants is removed.

Update: Britain's foreign secretary David Milliband has denounced the arrest warrant as "insufferable".

Winning wars and losing them

At Z-Word Blog, Eamonn McDonagh writes about some double standards that prevail in Western war reporting:

You  remember all the fuss at the start of the year about Israel’s supposedly disproportionate use of force in Gaza, no? Well, unless you are a close student of Afghan affairs it may have escaped your attention that last Thursday Spanish forces killed 13 members of the Taliban without suffering so much as a scratch on their own side. 

Read the whole article.

Vilified

At Z-Word Blog, the AJC's Ben Cohen has posted a YouTube link to the short film he wrote and directed about the world media's vilification of Israel.