Ted Belman
Israpundit.com
26 October 09
PM: Legal team will combat Goldstone
Instead of an inquiry committee questioning soldiers and officers about military conduct during Operation Cast Lead, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will put together a small team of legal experts and foreign ministry officials to reassemble and reevaluate material gathered by the the IDF in its partial investigation of the fighting against Hamas, Israel Radio reported on Monday.
The team will only use existing material, such as previously unreleased drone footage of terrorists operating behind civilian lines in Gaza, and present the findings as an internal investigation refuting the allegations put forth Goldstone Commission’s report.
In related news, Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced on Sunday that Israel would work to fight the legitimacy of the report and change the laws of warfare to fit the new reality of terrorist combat.
Barak’s comments came after a meeting Netanyahu convened in his office to weigh the ramifications of the report, proposing that a team of experts be set up to combat it.
In addition to Barak, senior officials from the Justice, Foreign and Defense ministries and the IDF were also present at the meeting, where it was decided to establish a committee to come up with effective ways to deal with the Goldstone Report.
Sunday’s meeting, according to government officials, dealt with a wide range of sensitive matters stemming from the report, such as the laws of war, diplomatic issues, international law and world public opinion.
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A good development. The fact that Israel is the only country being held to the "new" set of rules of international warfare means that we ought to go back to the same rules that the US follows, the "old" rules where if a government fails to stop the terror activity in its borders, then the terror camp embedded within its civilian population is held responsible for necessary retaliations, and whatever is needed can be done without apology even if it happens to be in a neighboring "state."
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