To close out the week, here are two videos, one very short, one much longer.
Here's Anne Bayefsky, delivering the remarks that, unbelievably, got her physically ejected from the UN
And here's Dore Gold's superlative response to Justice [sic] Richard Goldstone at Brandeis last night.
The full video, including Goldstone's remarks and the Q&A that followed, is posted here, at One Jerusalem. I didn't hear a lot that was new, but one impression that's been growing for months now was substantially reinforced.
The report that Goldstone shepherded, as well as his apologetics for, excuses and defenses of that report and the mission itself, consistently reflect the indignation of a man who believes he has been deeply wronged and that his mission was unjustly impugned and unfairly dismissed. Goldstone is clearly convinced of his own impartiality and righteousness in this matter, regardless of how clearly the evidence shows the contrary.
If you read the exchange of letters with the Israeli government that he mentioned at the beginning of the debate (they're appended to the report), and then listen to him talking during the Q&A about his warm reception in Gaza, his umbrage at the rejection of his mission by Israel comes through loud and clear. Notwithstanding Ambassador Leshno-Yaar's clear and unequivocal assurance that Israel's refusal to cooperate in the mission in no way reflected upon Goldstone personally, notwithstanding the Ambassador's efforts to explain the grossly politicized and biased terms of the UNHRC resolution that authorized the mission, Goldstone continued to insist that on the basis of his own pretensions to fair and equitable investigation, as reflected in his personally crafted (but totally unofficial) revision of his mandate, Israel should nonetheless acquiesce in and cooperate with that mission. There's even a thinly veiled threat, repeated more than once in Goldstone's ongoing efforts to persuade the Israeli government to let him in.
Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out of the victims of the Fort Hood massacre and their families. May the wounded be healed and the dead remembered for a blessing.
Shabbat Shalom.
Here's Anne Bayefsky, delivering the remarks that, unbelievably, got her physically ejected from the UN
And here's Dore Gold's superlative response to Justice [sic] Richard Goldstone at Brandeis last night.
The full video, including Goldstone's remarks and the Q&A that followed, is posted here, at One Jerusalem. I didn't hear a lot that was new, but one impression that's been growing for months now was substantially reinforced.
The report that Goldstone shepherded, as well as his apologetics for, excuses and defenses of that report and the mission itself, consistently reflect the indignation of a man who believes he has been deeply wronged and that his mission was unjustly impugned and unfairly dismissed. Goldstone is clearly convinced of his own impartiality and righteousness in this matter, regardless of how clearly the evidence shows the contrary.
If you read the exchange of letters with the Israeli government that he mentioned at the beginning of the debate (they're appended to the report), and then listen to him talking during the Q&A about his warm reception in Gaza, his umbrage at the rejection of his mission by Israel comes through loud and clear. Notwithstanding Ambassador Leshno-Yaar's clear and unequivocal assurance that Israel's refusal to cooperate in the mission in no way reflected upon Goldstone personally, notwithstanding the Ambassador's efforts to explain the grossly politicized and biased terms of the UNHRC resolution that authorized the mission, Goldstone continued to insist that on the basis of his own pretensions to fair and equitable investigation, as reflected in his personally crafted (but totally unofficial) revision of his mandate, Israel should nonetheless acquiesce in and cooperate with that mission. There's even a thinly veiled threat, repeated more than once in Goldstone's ongoing efforts to persuade the Israeli government to let him in.
I also respectfully submit that it would be in the interest of the State of Israel and the Israeli victims to cooperate with the Mission so that its and their views, concerns and submissions could receive appropriate attention and consideration and be reflected in the outcome of the Mission's work.There's something horrifying about the amount of damage that a slight to one man's ego can do. I'm well aware that there was more to the Goldstone report than that, but nevertheless it appears to me to be a factor that can't be ignored. The fact is that, his protestations notwithstanding, it's Goldstone who has made the controversy over this report all about him.
Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out of the victims of the Fort Hood massacre and their families. May the wounded be healed and the dead remembered for a blessing.
Shabbat Shalom.
