Bill Moyers: Richard Goldstone's (2) UN Report on Israel / Gaza

Bill Moyers talks with Justice Richard Goldstone, who headed up the controversial UN Human Rights Council investigation into fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

There could not have been a more thankless job in the world this year than investigating allegations of war crimes between Israelis and Palestinians. You're about to meet the man who shouldered that task after others had turned it down. And sure enough, he is at the center now of a raging controversy.

Judge Richard Goldstone was born and raised in South Africa, where he came to prominence investigating the vicious behavior of white security forces during apartheid.

In 1994, the UN named him to lead its investigation of war crimes in what was once Yugoslavia, including ethnic cleansing, the deadliest violence in Europe since the Second World War. That same year he was asked to prosecute genocide in Rwanda, where almost a million people were slaughtered. Goldstone went on to uncover Nazi war criminals hiding in Argentina, and to lead an independent inquiry into war crimes in Kosovo.

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[EnhancementSmoker]

if you look at the timing of the first attack...

it was right after children had been let out of schools and the streets were busy...

Hareetz reported that operation Cast Lead was planned for months...

which means Israeli intel knew what how many civilians and children would be on the ground in those locations in that time of day...

its undeniable...and sickening...

[EnhancementSmoker]

I disagree with Goldstone on one fundamental point...

While I think the palestinians should resist occupation with peaceful means...ie they should end the rocket attacks

I think he is wrong on one point. Israel does have a way of defending themselves from rocket attacks...not waging a war of aggression on an already occupied/blockaded territory

but another option...they can simply end the occupation. And if the rocket attacks continue...they would at least be justified to take action

[pengo2008]

Some commentators have endeavored to prove by parsing his words that Goldstone did not actually recant. Such a rhetorical strategy will not wash. Goldstone is a distinguished jurist. He knows how to use precise language. If he did not want to sever his connection with the Report he could simply have said “I am not recanting my original report by which I still stand.” He must have known exactly how his words would be spun and it is this fallout—not his parsed words—that we must now confront.

[steute2011]

@cpnankin "Our race is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves." - Menachem Begin (former Israeli Prime Minister)

[cpnankin]

the hamas stated political charter says: kill all jews. and then convert europe and america by the sword. thats great.

[rudyell]

The interviewer seems unable to grasp the fact that people in Gaza had nowhere to flee to. As Richard Goldstone had just said seconds beforehand - the borders in Gaza are CLOSED. It is illegal under international law to not allow civilians to flee from a warzone (wrong word since it isn't actually a war). The fact is Operation Cast Lead was about punishing the palestinians for voting in Hamas. Israel will not stop until they have de-arabised the place. It's called ethnic cleansing.

[whereisthejustice1]

@EnhancementSmoker 2 years on from cast Lead, still no prosecution for war crimes.

[2000Betelgeuse]

The problem is not Israel but the right wing government that is currently in power.