QUOTE OF THE MONTH—“The concept of a ‘just war’ emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when certain conditions were met: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the force used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.”
President Barack Obama
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
December, 2009
SENSE AND NONSENSE—JUDGE GOLDSTONE, A MAN OF PEACE
From the editor: Judge Richard Goldstone, a South African Jew, came to prominence through rigorous application of international law while investigating crimes of white security forces during apartheid. In 1994, he was asked by the United Nations to investigate war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. He also investigated genocide in Rwanda, uncovered Nazi war criminals hiding in Argentina, and independently investigated war crimes in Kosovo.
One year ago, the state of Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, an invasion of Gaza in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel. The United Nations again asked Judge Goldstone to investigate the military action to determine if war crimes were committed. Judge Goldstone agreed to lead the investigation only after the UN Human Rights Council expanded the mission to include an investigation of both Hamas militants and Israel.
Judge Goldstone issued his 574-page report in September, 2009.
Following are excerpts from an interview conducted by Bill Moyers, with Judge Goldstone, aired on PBS’s “Bill Moyers Journal,” Oct. 23, 2009:
Moyers: “The report accused both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. While condemning Palestinian rocket attacks, the report’s harshest language was reserved for Israel’s treatment of civilians in Gaza.
Goldstone: “These attacks amounted to reprisals and collective punishment, and constitute war crimes. The government of Israel obviously has a duty to protect its own citizens. That in no way justifies a policy of collective punishment of a people under effective occupation, destroying their means to live a dignified life and the trauma caused by the kind of military intervention the Israeli government called Operation Cast Lead.”
Moyers: “So the report in no way challenges Israel’s right to self-defense-
Goldstone: “Not at all. What we look at is how that right was used. We don’t question the right.”
Moyers: “So why, as a Jew and a Zionist, concerned for Israel’s survival, did you agree to stand in judgment on Israel’s action in Gaza?
Goldstone: “Well now, it was a question of conscience really….So I’ve been involved in this business for the last fifteen years or so, and it seemed to me that being Jewish was no reason to treat Israel exceptionally, and to say because I’m Jewish, it’s all right for me to investigate everybody else, but not Israel.”
Moyers: “What makes those acts war crimes, as you say?
Goldstone: “Well, humanitarian law, really fundamentally is what’s known as the ‘principle of distinction.’ It requires all people involved, commanders, troops, all people involved in making war, it requires them to distinguish between civilians and combatants….And then there’s a question of proportionality. One can, in war, target a military target. And there can be what’s euphemistically referred to as ‘collateral damage,’ but the ‘collateral damage’ must be proportionate to the military aim.”
Moyers: “You wrote, quote, the military operation, this military operation in Gaza, was a result of the disrespect for the fundamental principle of ‘distinction’ in international humanitarian law. So in layman’s language, the distinction between what and what?
Goldstone: “Between combatants and innocent civilians.
Moyers: “And you’re saying Israel did not do that, in many of these incidents.
Goldstone: “That’s correct.
Moyers: “Did you find evidence that that is deliberate on their part?
Goldstone: “Well, we did. We found evidence in statements made by present and former political and military leaders, who said, quite openly, that there’s going to be a disproportionate attack. They said if rockets are going to continue, we’re going to hit back disproportionately.”
Moyers: “Did you find war crimes by Hamas?
Goldstone: “Oh, indeed.
Moyers: “What were they?
Goldstone: “We found that the firing of many thousands of rockets and mortars at a civilian population to constitute a very serious war crime. And we said possibly crimes against humanity.”
Moyers: “I didn’t know until I read your report that the Israelis had actually called, 100,000 calls to telephones in Gaza and said, in effect, ‘Get out,’ right? They were intending to target, and they were giving the occupants a chance to move.
Goldstone: “Well, first, move to where? And secondly, in consequence of the overwhelming majority of those warnings, there was no attack. So it was, it caused confusion and terror rather than saving lives.”
Moyers: “But when the terrorists, the militants, whatever one wants to call them, are known to be embedded in, as you say, those tight, complex, concentrated areas, what’s the other army to do?
Goldstone: “It’s for example, to launch commando actions, to get at the militants and not the innocent civilians. And there’s an element of punishment, if one looks at the attacks on the infrastructure, on the food infrastructure, one sees a pattern of attacking all of the people of Gaza, not simply the militants.”
Moyers: “Talk a little more about that. Give me some more examples of what you see as a pattern in the destruction of the infrastructure.
Goldstone: “Right. Well I’d start with the bulldozing of agricultural fields, apparently pretty random. It wasn’t as though these farms were owned by Hamas militants….The bombing of some 200 industrial factories. As I mentioned, the only flour-producing factory, the water supply facilities of Gaza, the sanitation facilities, which caused an overflow of filth and muck into well over a square kilometer of land.”
Moyers: “Let me show you a clip from the speech made at the United Nations by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot….The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza, the same UN that promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us -- my people, my country -- of being war criminals….
Moyers: “What were you thinking as you just listened to that?
Goldstone: “…I was thinking it’s a complete misunderstanding, and lack of appreciation of what humanitarian law is all about. And again, it’s no answer to say that there’s a right of self-defense. As I say, I accept the right of Israel, absolutely, to defend itself.”
Moyers: “Your report recommends that both Israel and Hamas conduct their own investigations, and that if there are war crimes alleged and proven, that those participants, those perpetrators, Israelis or Hamas, be taken to the International Criminal Court.
Goldstone: “No, that they should be punished in their own countries. Only if there are no investigations -- the International Criminal Court is a court of last resort. If nations investigate their own war crimes in good faith, then the International Court has no jurisdiction.”
Moyers: “So what are they afraid of, as you read Israel?
Goldstone: “Well, I can only assume they’re afraid of an even-handed, good faith investigation, proving that serious war crimes were committed. And that they don’t want.”
Moyers: “But if you were an Israeli, would you not be fearful of a United Nations that historically has been biased against the country?
Goldstone: “Yes, but I would go out of my way to meet that head on. And not to simply put one’s head in the sand and say, ‘Well, the United Nations is biased; I’m going to ignore it.’ That’s not the way one succeeds in the modern world.
Moyers: “The ‘Financial Times’ says it is your reputation, Judge Richard Goldstone’s reputation, the Israeli government fears and not your methods. What do they have to be afraid of?
Goldstone: “The only thing they can be afraid of is the truth. And I think that is why they’re attacking the messenger and not the message.”
Editor’s Final Comment: The parallels between Judge Goldstone’s views on war and President Obama’s definition of a “just war” are inescapable and worth emphasizing. Both men use three primary criteria for war: 1) it must be a war of last resort—a war of self-defense; 2) the tactics used must be proportional to the threat; and 3) there must be a clear distinction between civilians and combatants. Both our pre-emptive war in Iraq and the Israeli invasion of Gaza violate all three principles. One year after the Israeli military invaded Gaza, Israel has opted for a “white-wash” investigation by their military of alleged war crimes. For a revealing and tragic account of collateral damage suffered by Palestinians in Operation Cast Lead, please refer to the January, 2009, issue of The Compass. Conservative talking heads such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are trying to spin Obama’s view of war as similar to their own. The gap between a pre-emptive war and a just war is filled with the bodies of tens of thousands of innocent civilian Iraq citizens as well as a documented 1,200 Palestinians killed in 22 days of Operation Cast Lead.
Maynard Chapman, Editor
The Compass
HEROINES, HEROS, AND BAD PENNIES
From the editor: The preceding interview is the second in a series of three interviews being published by The Compass in an effort to highlight the three most pressing problems we face as a nation:
- Deregulation of the financial investment and banking industry. (An interview with Brooksley Born, former head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission) The Compass, vol. vi, no. 11.
- Extremism and Abuse of Power in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. (An interview with Judge Richard Goldstone) The Compass, vol. vi, no. 12.
- Disappearance of the middle class in America (An interview with Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee) The Compass, vol. vii, no. 1.
Copyright © 2009, The Compass Society
