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Setting the Record Straight on Gaza Clash

(Washington Times) Moshe Ya'alon - The public renunciation of the Goldstone Report by its primary author represents an important victory for intellectual honesty. Having invested his personal credibility in a process that has since become synonymous with his name, Justice Goldstone now must be commended for his willingness to acknowledge the significant shortcomings of his UN assignment. Yet it is absolutely unconscionable that his report could have ascribed malice to an ethical and law-abiding state such as Israel. The Israel Defense Forces does not wantonly target unarmed noncombatants. Israel's traditional Jewish values mandate that it always retains the moral high ground. Nor has the IDF ever hesitated to investigate suspected wrongdoing and to prosecute and punish offenders. Israel was, is and always will be a liberal democracy seeking to live in peace with its neighbors. No amount of misinformation can change this reality. There must not be one set of rules for Israel and another for the rest of the world. The international system has been infected by a dangerous virus. Good is called evil and evil is repackaged as good. In this corrupt state of affairs, it is more vital than ever that the principled voice of the United States be heard. America must lead the charge to have the Goldstone Report withdrawn from the global stage. Its legacy - which handicaps all democratic nations in their struggle against non-state actors that scorn international law - must not stand. The writer, a former IDF chief of staff, is Israel's Vice Premier and Minister of Strategic Affairs.
2011-04-07 00:00:00
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