Goldstone Tells Moyers: Israel Guilty of War Crimes

by Allen L Roland — Salon Blog

Bill Moyers interviews Judge Richard Goldstone

Highly respected Judge Richard Goldstone, who is both a Jew and a Zionist, rightfully condemns Israel’s policy of collective punishment of a people under effective occupation, destroying their means to live a dignified life as well as the trauma caused by the kind of military intervention the Israeli government called Operation Cast Lead.

The highly anticipated Goldstone human rights report has exposed Judge Goldstone to both universal acclaim as well as some strident and bitter criticism ~ mainly from the Israeli far right ~  however, late last week, the UN’s Human Rights Council officially endorsed his findings.

With that in mind Bill Moyers had a classic 20 minute must see interview with Dr Goldstone last week which was fair, impartial and most revealing ~ because Goldstone comes across as extremely fair in his analysis as well as honest and meticulous in his findings.

His report accused both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. While condemning Palestinian rocket attacks, the report’s harshest language was rightfully reserved for Israel’s treatment of civilians in Gaza.

This interview took place at the same time the United Nations is calling on Israel to immediately halt forced evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, warning that as many as 60,000 people there may be at risk of forced evictions, demolitions and displacement.

Here is the Moyer 20 minute Journal interview and transcript as well as some pertinent excerpts;

BILL MOYERS: ” Your report, as you know, basically accuses Israel of waging war on the entire population of Gaza.”

RICHARD GOLDSTONE: ” That’s correct.”

BILL MOYERS: ” I mean, there are allegations in here, some very tough allegations of Israeli soldiers shooting unarmed civilians who pose no threat, of shooting people whose hands were shackled behind them, of shooting two teenagers who’d been ordered off a tractor that they were driving, apparently carrying wounded civilians to a hospital, of homes, hundreds, maybe thousands of homes destroyed, left in rubble, of hospitals bombed. I mean there are some questions about one or two of your examples here, but it’s a damning indictment of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, right? ”

RICHARD GOLDSTONE: ” Well, it is outrageous, and there should have been an outrage. You know, the response has not been to deal with the substance of those allegations. I’ve really seen or read no detailed response in respect of the incidents on which we report. ”

BILL MOYERS: ” Why is that? ”

RICHARD GOLDSTONE: ” Well, you know, I don’t know. I suppose people hate being attacked. There’s a knee-jerk reaction to attack the messenger rather than the message. And I think this is typical of that. And of course, a lot of the allegations, I certainly don’t claim anything like infallibility. But I would like to see a response to the substance, particularly the attack on the infrastructure of Gaza, which seems to me to be absolutely unjustifiable.”

Goldstone made an important point, during the interview, when he reminded Moyers that Gaza is not a nation state and alluded to the very important point that no civilian population can be expected not to strike back at illegal settlements built on occupied territory ~ which is obviously, as reported, still going on.

This may very well be wishful thinking ~ but the Obama Administration should support the Goldstone report which urges Israel to investigate its military’s documented misdeeds. It should also not equivocate regarding the Goldstone recommendation that the UN Security Council refer the matter to the International Criminal Court ~ if Israel fails to comply.

Here’s the video and transcript at PBS…

Read more at Salon Blog

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