Goldstone Report Commissioner Christine Chinkin

Palestinian and Muslim students have long been used to having their way on American campuses. Employing a number of intimidating tactics for decades ranging from the application of "third world" guilt to disruptive shouting and heckling, they virtually rule the roost from Berkeley on the west coast to Harvard in the east. Invariably, their one-sided events are populated by mainly women in hijabs whose role is to conflate a false image of middle east feminism with ululating outrage at "western" arrogance. Last Friday was no exception.

Watch the short video carefully and you will notice the young woman wearing a hijab being instructed to shut down my video of the lecture. Keep in mind this was a lecture open to the public and no signs or prior notice were given prohibiting recording.

Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics, was one of four Commissioners chosen by Judge Richard Goldstone to investigate Israeli War Crimes in the 2009 Gaza conflict. That's right - not chosen by UN mandate to impartially investigate alleged crimes on both sides, but to indict Israel in a pre-judged, rigged investigation that was subsequently condemned by even the Obama administration. The final product of the report was so flawed and clearly biased that only the most virulent anti-Israel groups commended it. Read the wording of that U.N. mandate:

Even Mary Robinson, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights not known for her impartiality on the subject of the Israel Palestinian conflict, refused to head the investigation saying the move was "guided not by human rights but by politics." According to Professor Chinkin, the UN commission, even though it had investigatory powers, chose in almost all instances, to simply receive Palestinian and Hamas "testimony" at face value and refused to conduct forensic and other investigation throughout Gaza which would have incontrovertibly proven Hamas' use of human shields and the use of civilian and religious infrastructure to mask its military activities. Watch this short video of one of the largest mosques in Gaza, Al Khulaf'a al Rashidoun being hit by Israeli bombs with secondary explosions, proving the presence of high explosives in the religious building:

Chinkin chose not to inform her audience of one of the most widely reported controversies about the Goldstone Report, namely, concerning her own appointment to the commission. Listen to her response during the Q & A:

Notice how Ms. Chinkin's colleague, in a desperate attempt to extricate her from a tough situation, turns the question around by claiming "bias" against Islam and Muslims - standard operating procedure in the university setting. As if the daily, horrendous practice of suicide/homicide bombing was unknown throughout the world.

What compounded the clear bias of that commission was the fact that Professor Chinkin was one of several signatories to a highly publicized letter to the London Sunday Times which was headlined: "Israel's bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence - it's a war crime"

Professor Chinkin has stood by that letter, composed before her activities on the UN investigative team began. In any judicial court or setting, expressing such sentiments towards one of the parties in a dispute would be cause for recusal or dismissal on the part of the examining body. Not so with Judge Goldstone or the UN. He has, to this day, stood by his commissioner and the report.

The field of Human Rights Law on campuses around the world has sadly degenerated into an orgy of anti-israel rhetoric, reflecting the tragic-comic landscape of the United Nations. Too many universities produce biased, shoddy scholars like Ms. Chinkin; and the UN hires them.

Consider some of the past members of the UN Human Rights Council (formerly the UN Commission on Human Rights): Libya, the Sudan and Saudi Arabia, some of the most egregious human rights violators in history. Israel has never been invited to sit on the Council. Unbelievable and predictable.

The fact that the government of Israel did not issue a formal complaint over her obvious partiality does in no way obviate the serious questions of her selection and objectivity. Remarkably, Judge Goldstone, admitting that his colleague, Chinkin, displayed prima facie bias, was dismissive of any concern about her objectivity:

The Geneva based NGO, UN Watch, which holds Special Consultative Status with the U.N. responds:

For further background, see this report by Gilead Ini of CAMERA.

A final note: Panel participant, Kenneth Reeves, longtime Cambridge, MA City Councillor and former Mayor, spoke with pride about his sponsorship of a resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from Gaza in January, 2010. When asked why he had never sponsored a resolution condemning the prior 6 years of rocket attacks against Israeli civilians by Hamas, he replied, "I never knew about the rockets."

Cambridge Councilman Ken Reeves: "I Never Heard of Rocket Attacks Against Israel."