YOM Kippur, it has been said, has come months early for Richard Goldstone, the South African former judge who reported for the United Nations on the 2008-09 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
According to Israel and other critics, Goldstone's 2009 report was always destined to be biased, and those fears were realised when it accused not only Hamas, but also Israel, of committing war crimes. The controversial report has been seized upon ever since to demonise Israel as a malicious aggressor. Now, in a staggering volte-face published in the United States last week, Goldstone effectively has admitted he was wrong. The Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur is about recognising past wrongs and repenting, but in this sorry case no amount of repenting will repair the damage done.
Israelis know the true meaning of terror because they live with it daily. This is the reality that sees metal detectors and guards vigilant against guns and bombs in Jerusalem restaurants or children in the southern town of Sderot scampering for bomb shelters when rockets are fired from Gaza. In just over a decade, more than 1100 Israelis have been killed in acts of terrorism ranging from suicide bombings to shootings, home invasions and rocket attacks.
Responding to Palestinian demands, the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza in 2005, leaving the Palestinians in charge of their own domain. But by 2007, Hamas extremists had taken control and the terrorist campaign was accelerated. More than 3000 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel, killing civilians, including children, and injuring hundreds of people. Israel sought a diplomatic resolution, built bomb shelters, installed warning devices and provided rocket-defence training for the residents who remained in vulnerable areas. In December 2008, Hamas responded to condemnation from the UN Secretary General by firing yet more rockets. Israel finally responded with the military action that it has always maintained was justified as an act of self-defence. In the ensuing war, 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
Even when he accepted his mandate from the UN Human Rights Council, Goldstone noted it was a jaundiced brief, focused only on Israeli actions rather than Hamas, too. On this basis, and because of past experience with UN "justice", Israel refused to co-operate. Nonetheless, Goldstone sought changes and proceeded, but his report paid scant regard to Israel's casus belli; its right to defend its citizens. Information on the public record that refuted claims Israel had deliberately targeted civilians in Gaza, along with independent evidence suggesting Hamas had stored or fired rockets from mosques and schools, effectively using the Palestinians as human shields, all seemingly was ignored by Goldstone.
He was duped by UN prejudices, his report was a sham, and The Australian said so at the time. By allowing that Israel might have intentionally targeted civilians, the report enabled the usual assortment of Israel's national enemies, traditionally activist NGOs and media critics, to get on their moral high horse, condemn Israel and portray the Hamas terrorists as hapless victims. Yet in his stunning apologia Goldstone now says: "If I had known then what I know now, that report would have been a different document." He reaffirms Hamas intentionally fired rockets at civilian targets, but retracts the allegations against Israel, saying information now available indicates "civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy".
Tunisia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia sat on the UN council that gave Goldstone his brief, and the body was chaired by Libya just eight years ago. Little wonder then that the United Nations struggles for moral authority or that Israel chooses not to co-operate with such inquiries. Little wonder also that Israel is demanding an apology. But at a time when we have seen anti-Israel rhetoric infecting even Australia's political debate, the ongoing tragedy for Israel is that the damage is done. Goldstone's retreat will never receive the publicity of his initial jaundiced report and, as usual, we can expect few mea culpas from those who have used it to unfairly tarnish Israel.
