Israel did not feel able to cooperate with the Fact Finding Mission because its mandate was clearly one-sided and ignored the thousands of Hamas missile attacks on civilians in southern Israel that made the Gaza Operation necessary. Both the mandate of the Mission and the resolution establishing it prejudged the outcome of any investigation, gave legitimacy to the Hamas terrorist organization and disregarded the deliberate Hamas strategy of using Palestinian civilians as cover for launching terrorist attacks.

The unbalanced nature of the resolution establishing the Mission was the reason that so many States on the Council, including all member states of the European Union, Switzerland, Canada, Korea and Japan, did not support it, and why many distinguished individuals, including former High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, refused invitations to head the Mission.

Notwithstanding its reservations, Israel will read the Report carefully - as it does with all reports prepared by international and national organizations. Israel is committed to acting fully in accordance with international law and to examining any allegations of wrongdoing by its own forces. To date, the IDF has opened investigations into over 100 allegations regarding the conduct of its forces during the Gaza Operation. While most of these investigations were closed because the allegations were found baseless, 23 criminal investigations were opened and are still pending.

...Goldstone's press conference in New York and the report's recommendations constitute another step in the Durban strategy, in which the language of human rights and international law are used as weapons in the political war to isolate and demonize Israel...

...Human Rights Watch is referenced 33 times, including the "Rain of Fire" report co-authored by Marc Garlasco. He was HRW's "senior military expert" (until yesterday's exposure of his Nazi memorabilia fetish), but his analyses are also tainted by false claims. Goldstone's long association with HRW essentially means that in this report, he is quoting his own highly problematic organization. More generally, the methodology used in the 36 incidents examined by the committee will give critics of the report and the commission the strongest basis for rejecting its conclusions.

If this was a real court process, and not a façade based on a political mandate from the inherently biased United Nations Human Rights Council, both Goldstone and Professor Christine Chinkin would have been disqualified from participating. As UN Watch noted in its 28-page legal brief to the UN, Chinkin's bias was reflected in statements that "categorically rejected" Israel's right to self-defense against rocket attacks from Gaza and accused Israel of "aggression" and "prima facie war crimes." But without any due process, this brief was simply dismissed...

...Near the end of his statement, Goldstone told his audience that they should "rejoice that we are living in a world today in which there is accountability for war crimes." The Hamas leadership and its supporters, including the Iranian regime, will indeed rejoice, but few Israelis will find this mission, its report and its recommendations as providing accountability or restoring the morality of the United Nations.

Noam Badin [sic: Bedein], one of six Israeli civilians who testified before the Goldstone Commission probing Operation Cast Lead blasted the investigation's report Tuesday for equating the actions of Israel and Hamas, saying it was "disgusting," Israel Radio reported.

According to the radio station, Badin said that Goldstone fell asleep when he was shown clips of Sderot children running for their lives after hearing a Color Red rocket warning siren.

...I was flown to testify in front of the committee at the UN headquarters in Geneva and during my testimony, which included raw video footage of children running from rocket fire, Richard Goldstone fell asleep...