Clear Israel’s Name: Withdraw Flawed Report

(from ACLJ.org) It was a rush to judgment - a deeply flawed report accusing Israel of war crimes in a conflict in Gaza in 2009.

As Israel launched a defensive military operation against Hamas terrorists who were killing innocent Israeli civilians, the international community criticized Israel - and an error-filled investigative ''Goldstone Report'' was issued, claiming Israel was guilty of war crimes.

Friday, the author of the Goldstone Report, Judge Richard Goldstone, recanted his initial findings - making it clear that Israel did nothing wrong in defending itself and never intended to target civilians in the conflict. It is Hamas, not Israel, that has a policy of attacking innocent civilians.

So today the ACLJ - along with its international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) - is calling on the United Nations (U.N.) to rescind the report.

Stand with the ACLJ and demand that the U.N. rescind this erroneous report without delay. Sign our online Petition to Rescind the Goldstone Report now.

Judge Goldstone's stunning reversal clearly underscores the fact that it is time to put this deeply flawed and biased report to rest. From the very beginning, the ACLJ argued that the damaging allegations against Israel were false and without merit. The author of that report now admits that there was no evidence that Israel deliberately targeted civilians while, as he stated, ''it goes without saying'' that Hamas did indeed intentionally target civilians. It's time for the United Nations to rescind this report and close its unfounded inquiry against Israel without delay.

Judge Goldstone wrote an opinion editorial published over the weekend in the ''Washington Post,'' saying in part, ''if I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.''

Goldstone now admits there was no evidence to suggest that Israel ''intentionally targeted'' civilians during the conflict. At the same time, Goldstone admits that Hamas - unlike Israel, which spent tremendous resources conducting its own investigation - did nothing to investigate its own crimes, which, as Goldstone now concludes, ''were intentional ... its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.''

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for the Goldstone Report to be withdrawn: ''Goldstone himself said that all of the things that we have been saying all along are correct - that Israel never intentionally fired at civilians and that our inquiries operated according to the highest international standards. Of course, this is in complete contrast to Hamas, which intentionally attacked and murdered civilians and, naturally, never carried out any sort of inquiry. This leads us to call for the immediate cancellation of the Goldstone Report.''

Now it's time to set the record straight. There's no stronger evidence than the author of the damaging report now admitting he got it wrong. Writing an opinion editorial is one thing, but what Judge Goldstone needs to do is formally withdraw the report at the U.N.

The ACLJ and ECLJ presented both written and oral arguments defending Israel's actions during the Gaza conflict. In January 2010, we filed a written statement and supporting memorandum on our analysis of the Goldstone Report with the U.N. Human Rights Council. In those filings, we highlighted the systematic biases throughout the Goldstone Report and its failure to adhere to U.N. guidelines and the International Bar Association Guidelines for proper and objective fact-finding.

Stand with Israel. Sign the online Petition to Rescind the Goldstone Report now.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Jay Sekulow
ACLJ Chief Counsel