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Today, Haaretz reported:
Hamas admitted last week that between 600 and 700 of its militants were killed during Operation Cast Lead – a figure consistent with that reported by the Israel Defense Forces...
Hamas’ military wing had previously claimed that only 49 of its militants were killed during the three-week operation that the IDF launched in December 2008. Israel had put the figure at 709.
This latest information shatters the Goldstone Report's efforts to debunk the casualty figures reported by Israel. That flawed report had claimed:
The Israeli armed forces claim that 1,166 Palestinians were killed during the military operations “according to the data gathered by the Research Department of the Israel Defense Intelligence”. They allege that “709 of them are identified as Hamas terror operatives”, 295 are “uninvolved Palestinians”, while the remaining 162 are “men that have not yet been attributed to any organization”.222 Of the 295 “uninvolved Palestinians”, 89 were children under the age of 16 and 49 women. According to these figures, at least 60 per cent, and possibly as many as three out of four, of those killed were combatants. The Mission notes, however, that the Israeli Government has not published a list of victims or other data supporting its assertions, nor has it, to the Mission’s knowledge, explained the divergence between its statistics and those published by three Palestinian sources...
Needless to say, the report did not question the veracity of the Palestinian sources, even as such sources had a motive to overstate civilian casualties/understate combatant casualties. As if that were not enough, the report then sought to further undermine Israel's credibility stating:
The Mission notes that the statistics from non-governmental sources are generally
consistent. Statistics alleging that fewer than one out of five persons killed in an armed conflict was a combatant…
It should be noted that a basic responsibility inherent in any competent legal endeavor is to focus on finding facts. The Goldstone investigation failed to satisfy that basic obligation. As a result, its conclusions were little more than politicized soundbites that lacked foundation in international law e.g., the most prominent example being the report's novel interpretation that armed Hamas police officials were civilians.
Now that Hamas has finally acknowledged more accurate statistics, it remains to be seen whether the flimsy Goldstone report will be revised to reflect the facts. My guess is that it won't.
The failure to revise the report in light of facts that confirm one of the report's material defects will provide further evidence that the report's author had little desire for fact finding. Instead, it will confirm his having pursued a little more than a political crusade aimed at delegitimizing Israel for its having acted in self defense.
Hamas admitted last week that between 600 and 700 of its militants were killed during Operation Cast Lead – a figure consistent with that reported by the Israel Defense Forces...
Hamas’ military wing had previously claimed that only 49 of its militants were killed during the three-week operation that the IDF launched in December 2008. Israel had put the figure at 709.
This latest information shatters the Goldstone Report's efforts to debunk the casualty figures reported by Israel. That flawed report had claimed:
The Israeli armed forces claim that 1,166 Palestinians were killed during the military operations “according to the data gathered by the Research Department of the Israel Defense Intelligence”. They allege that “709 of them are identified as Hamas terror operatives”, 295 are “uninvolved Palestinians”, while the remaining 162 are “men that have not yet been attributed to any organization”.222 Of the 295 “uninvolved Palestinians”, 89 were children under the age of 16 and 49 women. According to these figures, at least 60 per cent, and possibly as many as three out of four, of those killed were combatants. The Mission notes, however, that the Israeli Government has not published a list of victims or other data supporting its assertions, nor has it, to the Mission’s knowledge, explained the divergence between its statistics and those published by three Palestinian sources...
Needless to say, the report did not question the veracity of the Palestinian sources, even as such sources had a motive to overstate civilian casualties/understate combatant casualties. As if that were not enough, the report then sought to further undermine Israel's credibility stating:
The Mission notes that the statistics from non-governmental sources are generally
consistent. Statistics alleging that fewer than one out of five persons killed in an armed conflict was a combatant…
It should be noted that a basic responsibility inherent in any competent legal endeavor is to focus on finding facts. The Goldstone investigation failed to satisfy that basic obligation. As a result, its conclusions were little more than politicized soundbites that lacked foundation in international law e.g., the most prominent example being the report's novel interpretation that armed Hamas police officials were civilians.
Now that Hamas has finally acknowledged more accurate statistics, it remains to be seen whether the flimsy Goldstone report will be revised to reflect the facts. My guess is that it won't.
The failure to revise the report in light of facts that confirm one of the report's material defects will provide further evidence that the report's author had little desire for fact finding. Instead, it will confirm his having pursued a little more than a political crusade aimed at delegitimizing Israel for its having acted in self defense.