Thoughts on Yom Kippur and the Goldstone report

Thoughts on Yom Kippur and the Goldstone report

On September 15, a UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, headed by former South African Judge, Richard Goldstone, submitted its 574-page report to the UN Human Rights Council. Goldstone's mandate was to, "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after" (page 5).

The lengthy Goldstone report accuses both Israel and Hamas of actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity. The report focuses primarily on Israel's actions - for two reasons: Because the vast majority of civilian casualties and destruction was on the Palestinian side, there was more that needed to be documented. And because the Government of Israel refused to cooperate with the fact-finders, and even prevented them from entering Israel, where they could have collected evidence from the Israeli side, there was less ‘Israeli material' to work with.

Israel explained its refusal to cooperate by citing the Human Rights Council's original one-sided condemnation of Israel's actions, accompanied by its one-sided call to investigate only Israel's misdeeds. This, Israel argued, made the entire fact-finding process ‘rigged'. Israel was not impressed by the fact that Goldstone, a man with strong ties to the country, agreed to lead the investigation only on condition that his team be allowed to examine the actions of both sides, including the actions that preceded Israel's air and ground campaign in Gaza.

The question that has occupied me this Yom Kippur is how to balance the spiritual and political challenges posed by the Goldstone report. Is there a ‘Jewish response' to the report - that of self-criticism and wrestling with our shortcomings - that is distinct from our ‘Zionist' response - which seeks to make sure that Israel is not singled out for blame in a conflict where the Palestinian side must bear responsibility for its share of moral and political failings?

A response driven by the Jewish principles of atonement would ignore whether or not the report was slanted against Israel; whether or not Hamas' history of terrorism is worse than Israel's misdeeds; whether or not Hamas and its members intended to make atonement for their own sins. A response driven by "Kippur" would focus exclusively on our never-ending effort to approach a level of moral ‘purity'.

The atonement principle suggests that the claims made in the Goldstone report should not be stonewalled - dismissed ad limine as biased or one-sided. It suggests that Israel first study the claims carefully and with honest self-criticism. And it suggests that Israel establish its own independent judicial commission of inquiry, as Goldstone's team has recommended and as the country has done in the past - such as the Kahan Commission that investigated the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacre in Beirut.

http://www.meretzusa.org/thoughts-yom-kippur-and-goldstone-report