Israel’s Goldstone Task Force Seeks Ways to Counter Onslaught, Not Investigate Allegations

The task force appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Goldstone report is charged with seeking ways of countering and minimizing damage from the report, and not with investigating the report’s allegations. Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from the United States and other allies to conduct its own investigation into allegations made by the U.N. investigators. In embracing the findings of the commission, the Council warned that unless Israel and Hamas conduct internal probes, the entire report would be turned over to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for prosecution. Netanyahu, though, has vowed that no Israeli soldier will face an international tribunal as the result of his or her actions in defending the country. He has also warned that Israel will take no further “risks for peace” if the international community does not back Israel’s right to self-defense, which Israel insists is being denied by the actions of the Goldstone commission and its report. It was first reported that Netanyahu had capitulated in part and was appointing a small body of inquiry to satisfy the demands for a domestic probe. But the government has clarified the issue, explaining that the duty of the task force is to coordinate Israel’s defense relative to the report. Already, hundreds of cases against Israelis who served in army units in the Gaza operation are being filed in European courts, charging the Israelis with war crimes.