The Goldstone Report: "Spoken Like a True... Something Or Other..."

[eumelia]

I've been trying to write about the Goldstone Report and what it's actually doing to the discourse regarding Israel internationally and domestically.
I suppose anyone who is a regular News reader known that the UN Human Rights Council has endorsed the report.

Obviously, Israel is crying "No Fair!".

Israel's reactionary response couldn't have been more predictable. Instead of co-operating and trying to own the story, Hasbarah has gone out of its way to convince the world that the report is "false, distorted and promotes terror".

Personally speaking, I think it's about time we took some responsibility for the fact that, indeed yes, we are not the Good Guys. That there are no Good Guys, and that crimes committed against people cannot be condoned.

I've had lots of arguments with people over the past few weeks, most of them deteriorated to the fact that 1) Justice Goldstone didn't have the full context in which he wrote the report, that is, he was limited to reporting about the three weeks of the operation itself and 2) That he should have excused himself from the assignment because of his relationship to Israel. Because he's Jewish.

Before I get into that, I think it's important to remember that in late September, when the report was published, both Israel and Hamas found themselves on the same side. Both rejected the report as being biased and lenient to the Other side.
The report shows that both Hamas and Israel committed war crimes (possibly even crimes against humanity).

There, I've disclaimed "both sides are to blame".

Accountability, however, is placed, and rightly so, on Israel. Mainly because as an Army, the IDF has a responsibility to defend civilians and non-combatants under The Geneva Conventions. The IDF violated this.
So did Hamas - then again, they're terrorists and they have not signed the Geneva Conventions... This got tossed at me a few times, I'm still not sure why the behaviour of "the enemy" has anything to do with the (so-called) moral standing of those who purport to be "Better".
The illegal use of White Phosphorous is documented.

Instead of owning up and trying to control these facts, Israel takes the course of utter denial, that these are lies, that the Antisemites are working against us, that Iran gives money to Hamas and Hizbullah, that we are Good and they are Evil.

Is it any surprise that Turkey feels they can show fictional IDF soldiers kill fictional Palestinian children?. In our denial of all our crimes, there is room for others to make up the stories of our brutality as they see fit.

I'm digressing.

What about Hamas? Should they not be held accountable? Absolutely they should, as leaders of the Palestinian people in Gaza they should be held accountable to the fact that they fire rockets on Israeli civilians. They should be held accountable for their use of Human shields; a procedure used by the IDF, known as the "neighbour procedure".

Damn, digressing again.

I was going to write about Antisemitism and it's use in Israeli Hasbarah as a way to delegitimise both Justice Goldstone's report and the "Shministim", the 12th graders who have chosen to be conscientious objectors due to the Occupation.

Stay tuned, I have plenty of tabs open.

Comments

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

*Nods*

It's remarkable how Israel's supporters don't ever seek to address the allegations in the report - the fact that they are made is considered enough to discredit it. One line of logic on the right seems to be that, since Hamas (supposedly) intends genocide, if you want to put any restrictions on how Israel fights them, or even ask any questions about how they fight them, then you're supporting genocide, or at least opening the way to it.

One point on each side's responsibility - International Humanitarian Law (or the 'laws of war', violations of which are therefore war crimes), of which the Geneva Conventions are a key part, is intended to be binding on both states and non-state actors. This is part of what is supposed to be the point of IHL - it doesn't matter what sort of group you are, or what cause you have, or whether your going to war is justified in the first place, or how terrible your enemy is, you are still accountable for your conduct in the course of hostilities - and that applies to both Israel and Hamas. Neither the fact that you haven't signed the Geneva Conventions, nor that you are fighting people who haven't signed the Geneva Conventions, gets you off the hook.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Every time I've spoken about this I get dragged into that argument; that I prefer Them over My own people, that I'm condoning terror.
It's all very frustrating.

Re: Geneva.
I know that, I assume most people who care know that.
But it's really easy to discredit each side's moral ground by saying Israel signed it, Hamas did not.
Someone tried to sell me the notion that Israel is more moral because they're members of the UN and I'm like - what's the connection, exactly?

[ninboydean.livejournal.com]

I love how the discourse always has to be disassociated from the economic fact - that is, that Israel is maintaining a complete or near-complete blocade of a civilian population.

What happens when you pick up a handful of ants and start squeezing them? They bite at your skin, perhaps unable to reach the muscle which is squeezing them.