By Ray Fleming
DOES Israel ever admit to having done anything wrong? When accusations of improper or disproportionate military action are made its reaction is invariably to set up an internal inquiry whose outcome is usually that no wrong was done. But after Israel's Cast Lead invasion of Gaza two years ago the United Nations asked the South African judge Richard Goldstone to lead an inquiry into the war in which 1'400 Palestinians were killed and many more injured. Goldstone's report concluded that both Israel, for the deliberate killing of civilians, and the Palestinians, for rocket attacks on Israel that killed 13 Israelis, had committed war crimes. Israel rejected the report's findings.
Last Sunday Judge Goldstone contributed an opinion article to the Washington Post retracting his report's findings on the grounds of documents and information made available to him by Israel following its own inquiries into the actions of its troops in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately said the Goldstone Report should be tossed into the trash can of history. This matter will need further study but two points should be made immediately. Why did Goldstone not report to the United Nations about his change of mind rather than announce it in a newspaper article? Why did Israel refuse to co-operate with Goldstone's original inquiry and instead ask him later to accept its own inquiry evidence which could not be tested independently?