Terrorists carrying Kassam rocket
Terrorists carrying Kassam rocketIsrael news photo

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will convene his security mini-cabinet this afternoon to discuss the Goldstone Report. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is expected to propose that the government agree to establish an inquiry into the issues raised by the report. 

The Goldstone Report accuses Israel of war crimes during its defensive Operation Cast Lead against Hamas at the beginning of this year.

By supporting the Goldstone Report, the UN has presumed to revoke the Torah law - which has become a basic tenet of natural international law – which states that if someone rises up to kill you, kill him first.

The final decision regarding an internal Israeli inquiry will be made by Netanyahu, who tends to oppose the idea. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi are also opposed.

Proponents of the idea say that Israel’s investigation of its activities during Operation Cast Lead will stop the snowballing international pressure against Israel.  Others say that such an inquiry is either an admission that Goldstone’s conclusions are well-grounded, an invitation for international criticism of every defensive action ever taken by Israel, or both.

It is a matter of near-total consensus in Israel that the report, which has been accepted by the UN Human Rights Committee, is a one-sided review of the events leading up to and during Operation Cast Lead, and essentially denies Israel the right of self-defense against terrorists firing rockets at towns and cities from within their own civilian populations.

Meanwhile, the Sanhedrin – a Jerusalem-based organization of rabbis and Torah scholars seeking to renew the supreme Jewish court for the Jewish People in the form of a central Jewish-legal authoritative body – has issued an “injunction” to “prohibit the UN Security Council from discussing the Goldstone Report.”

A copy of the order has been sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to the Rotating Chairman of the Security Council, and to Council members.

The Sanhedrin also calls for a revision of the UN Charter “and of the laws of war, with regard to the fight against terror organizations and terrorist states.”  Avoiding this responsibility, the Sanhedrin states, “nullifies the legitimacy of the United Nations as a fair and representative organization that seeks to bring peace, and defeats the purpose for which it was established.”  If a totally neutral investigative commission is not established, the Sanhedrin demands “steps to establish a new international framework to bring peace and resolve disputes, an organization that operates according to laws that reflect the vision of the prophets.”

The Sanhedrin echoes much of the public criticism that has been leveled against the Goldstone Commission, calling it “tainted by malicious politicization” in deliberately disregarding the long years of anti-Israel aggression and rocket attacks by “Hamas and other ‘Palestinian’ organizations.”

“The report does not relate to the serious scope of continuous violations of international law by the Palestinians,” the Sanhedrin states. “For that reason, we encourage the government of Israel not to allow itself to be called to judgment before hostile forums.”

Other excerpts from the Sanhedrin’s injunction: “The UN’s actions [served to] deny Israel and the world the possibility of subduing terror, by defining Israel’s struggle against terror as a war crime, tying Israel’s hands and feet, acquiescing to its destruction (G-d forbid), and deterring its fighters by threatening them with arrest warrants all over the world.”

“In taking such action, the UN has abandoned all basic standards of justice and freedom, and has turned the victim into the offender. By supporting the Goldstone Report, the UN has presumed to revoke the Torah law - which has become a basic tenet of natural international law – which states that if someone rises up to kill you, kill him first.”

“The UN has become an entity that aids and abets aggression and bloodshed, and an indirect cause in arousing strife and war in the world. The UN helps terrorists escape defeat, thus preventing the achievement of peace, life, and world stability.”

The Sanhedrin also notes that the UN Declaration of Human Rights is based more on the spirit, faith, Bible, prophetic visions, culture, conduct, philosophy and thought of the Jewish People than on any other national or cultural code in the world – yet “the UN is making perverted use of this declaration against a peace-loving nation [Israel] more than against any other nation, in order to destroy and exterminate it. As a result, this will lead to the death of billions of human beings, as the Jewish Sages said in the Chapters of the Fathers, ‘The sword of war comes to the world because of the delay and perversion of justice, and for interpreting the Torah in contradiction of its basic laws.’”