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Paying attention to a man of Justice

Robert Fisk, writing in The Independent [as reproduced on CommonDreams.org] in "Israel Should Pay Attention to a Man of Justice", as always, puts into context the responses of both Hamas and the Israelis to the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War:

"But no, Israel – as unwilling to accept criticism as Hamas – which, typically and cynically, washed its own dirty hands of the report, even though it murdered at least 40 suspected Palestinian collaborators while killing only six of its military enemies – wouldn’t face up to Goldstone’s conclusions, wouldn’t accept that the casualties of this monstrous war were disproportionate. Israel’s response wasn’t disproportionate. It never was.

This nonsense is unworthy of a grown-up nation. For not long before the Gaza war, Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli army northern commander, defined his doctrine very carefully. “We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction… This isn’t a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorised.” No wonder the world watches, amazed, at Israel’s response to Goldstone’s conclusions. And the United States – which, of course, once defined Hiroshima as “a military base” – was either silent or took Israel’s side. Barack Obama’s UN ambassador, Susan Rice, condemned the Goldstone investigation with the pathetic (and, again, typical) remark that “our view is that we have to remain focused on the future”.

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