Monday, April 4, 2011

Goldstone Backtracking

Richard Goldstone is backing away from the findings of the report he issued. This is a bit surprising. Many reports were written, including those by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Goldstone's report is pretty consistent with them. If the conclusions are not that radical why would Goldstone distance himself from it?

Goldstone has been subjected to an intense vilification campaign. Alan Dershowitz called him an evil, evil man and a traitor to the Jewish people. He's been told he's guilty of a blood libel. Apparently Jews in South Africa prevented him from participating in his grandson's Bar Mitzvah.

But here's the biggest factor in my view. The Human Rights Council is recommending follow up on the status of war crimes investigations at the International Court of Justice. The basis for the criminal allegations is primarily the Goldstone Report. So the pressure is on to undermine it. I imagine the pressure on Goldstone is intense. If no action was taken as a result of the report's findings I suppose there wouldn't be much to see here.

For some commentary on Goldstone's about face go here.

3 comments:

HispanicPundit said...

Then there is the opposite view that he exaggerated the claims and with time his report became more instrumental in a case against Israel. Thereby making his exaggerations more offensive.

HispanicPundit said...

Made claims in haste, is a better phrase.

Jon said...

That's possible. But take a look at the vilification campaign. Take a look at the pressure. Take a look at the reports by AI and HRW. Do you think that explanation is the most plausible?