is the real reason why the UN involvement in international crises. You and the UNHRC are the perfect examples of why millions around the world have become cynical of this organization that singles out and accuses a liberal democratic society while keeping silent about the endless number of human rights abuses taken place in all the country in Middle East region and countries worldwide.

of war crimes. Stop lying about it! The only palestinians it accuses are some anonymous 'armed groups'. Stop pretending that this report was even semi-even-handed.

process will never bring more involvement in international crises. On the contrary, it will confort the grip of the muslim countries and their dimmies on the UN agenda and will shift the world attention away from the real crises such as Soudan, Tchetchenia, Iran, Xinjiang....

Martin indy is a bald faced liar in saying that livni told abbas not to sign a peace deal. Abbas did not sign a deal because he felt he did not have enough. Livni disagreed with olmert on right of return and jeruslame. I take her word rather than this so called ass kisser indy who has now revealed himself as a clinton appear along with dennis ross.The same old story from the same old. Livni may be a lot of t hings but she is not a liar and she was not in bed with olmert on his appeasement politics, though I disagree with her on her concession approach.

If the Russians and Chinese refuse his report, that will end his dream of becoming UN secretary-general.

continuing to forfeit his credibility as he becomes increasingly active in defending his report, now on al Jazeera. a seriously Arab biased (but very professional) media outlet, recently before the "fasting rabbis", an American group of very liberal Jews whose attachment to Israel is tenuous at best. No self-respecting jurist would either defend his report after the fact nor vigorously campaign for it to be recognized as Mr. Goldstone has done. He appears to be blind to the obvious, that his stature has so significantly diminished that soon he won't even be of value to Israel's many enemies in the UN and that he will never be considered fit enough to achieve a higher honour or position of international influence. As the Greeks taught us, he is the author of all his coming misfortune but "hubris" and unrelenting ambition have been his guides and have, at the same time, compromised his clarity and desire for justice. There is probably some reason to feel sympathy for the man but he has so damaged the state of Israel (my country) that I do not have it in me to extend him any charity whatsoever.

goldstone doesn't get it, his only audience is al jeezera, or other anti sentic arabs who love to rehash his perverted dopey report. when the russins and chinese say no, you know you got a pile of crap called your investigation. So goldstone, you had your 15 minutes of fame, 16 if you include all your worthless interviews on arab tv. Your problem is where are you going to live, no democracy wants you. unless you go to sweden which is another place where self hating jews like you can find like minded jerks. As for returning to Israel, thats pretty funny you should try Iran they think like you too.

Russia & China have in their closet much worse crimes against civilians in their own country or in occupied territory (Chechnya ,Uigur, Thibetan people for instance) than anything alleged against Israel in Gaza. So they are very unlikely to allow a precedent in the UN secutity council which could haunt them.

Goldstone should be declared an enemy of The State Of Israel, a persona non grata and barred from ever entering Israel.

Don't forget the Americans who regularly attack Afghan weddings and recently murdered 80 Afghan civilians in an air strike for no reason. However, the Americans, Chinese, Russians as well as French and British will never be prosecuted for their war crimes because they have veto power in the UN.

In the avalanche of criticism against the Goldstone report, I have yet to see a single refutation of any of his actual accusations that Israel intentionally targeted civilians, with both lethal force and non-lethal sanctions. I hear the report did not criticize Hamas enough, or did not discuss the provocations that supposedly led to Israel's attack, but the report meticulously detailed dozens of instances where Israel intentionally imposed collective punishment, both deadly and not, on Palestinian civilians. Aren't these accusations true, and doesn't such punishment violate international law and universal morality?

The reason Abbas, or any other Palestinian leader will never sign a peace treaty with Israel, is the same reason why Arafat started the second intifada in order to avoid signing the agreement offered by Barak and Clinton - any Palestinian who signs an agreement giving even 1 mm of east Jerusalem to Israeli control will be 1. Called a traitor and then 2. be assassinated. Arafat wanted to die a shaheed - being assassinated would not accomplish that. Abbass simply does not want to be assassinated. Therefore, the signing of an agreement or peace treaty giving Israel control over the Western Wall only will never happen. Unfortunately the world does not realize or want to realize this.

...contents are the extracts of those who sent Goldstone on his mission and increasingly Goldstone's own...

There is a saying that there is no one more blind than the guy who does not want to see. The best evidence is when you look at the real list of causalities (by name and age) you find no evidence of war crimes but the contrary. In similar conflicts, the number innocent people killed is much higher. Add to that the fact that all Arab deaths are blamed on Israeli fire even though in reality many Arab deaths were caused by Hamas booby traps. Also, you would have expected many more deaths than usual because of how Hamas fought: they refused to allow civilians to escape the fighting (Egypt is also to blame), Hamas forces did not wear uniforms and all Hamas forces were based in hospitals and schools.

The Goldstone Report draws its conclusions from two sources: 1) Testimony provided solely by witnesses furnished by Hamas; and 2) Goldstone's unshakeable belief that Israel had committed war crimes before he even began his investigation. And this is just for starters. There was no effort to use forensic evidence to prove or discredit the claims made by Hamas' witnesses. There was also no effort to interview witnesses not under the control of Hamas to provide a counterpoint to the testimony of Hamas' witnesses. As to Israel imposing 'collective punishment', international law is non-binding on conflicts between Israel and Palestinian militant groups because Palestinians not only aren't signatories on the Geneva convention, they violate the provisions contained in the Geneva convention by conducting military activities from civilian zones, using human shields, and dressing like civilians. According to international law, combatants need to be dressed in uniforms and make every effort to conduct their combat activities away from civilian centers. If a combatant decides to conduct military activities from a civilian zone, the enemy party is legally allowed to strike that civilian zone and kill the militant, regardless of civilian casualties. FYI, 'universal morality' means different things to different people. Such a morality can hardly be called 'universal'.

Goldstones self serving report keeps him in the limelight and enables him upward mobility in UN as a jew who rejects jews and is therefore "impartial". right now he is famous and will milk it for all it's worth.

What is THE definition of "universal morality"? As #15 Joe brings out, you can't call it "universal morality' if there is more than ONE definition. Where were YOU on 9/11/2001? Where I was working in Queens at the time we had an unobstructed view of the Twin Towers. We saw the plume of smoke from the first tower, then the second tower. After they collapsed we saw the pillar of smoke rising for days. The people who planned and carried out the attacks believed themselves and their actions to be moral. The PA Arabs that you defend were dancing in the streets in Gaza and Yesha when they saw the towers fall and heard the reports of estimated dead. Celebrations took place all throughout the Arab and Muslim world for the "universally moral" attacks. Goldstone himself has said that his report would NOT hold up in court as it presents NO evidence, only hearsay. As to the casualties you refer to as "War Crimes", check the US civilian casualties in Iraq I & II, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia (with NATO), Vietnam (include the torture and rape of civilians) and Korea since the Geneva Convention, and Germany and Japan in WW II. Look at over 200,000 black African civilians murdered by Arab Muslims in Africa, over 10,000 Tibetans murdered by China. When did "universal morality" start? We should include the tens of millions of native peoples murdered in North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Asia and Africa by the "moral" Europeans. That doesn't even consider the millions of civilians murdered by their own governments that the UNHRC is SUPPOSED to be monitoring and protecting. Estimates of 35-50 million murdered in the USSR under Stalin, and 50-100 million murdered in China under Mao. Commander (ret.) Richard Kemp, former commander of the British forces serving in Afghanistan, before the UNHRC vote endorsing the Goldstone Report. : "During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare," testified Colonel Kemp. "Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population." There are even videos on youtube of the IAF dropping leaflets to give civlians sufficient time to vacate before the area was target bombed, just in case they were in the targeted buildings or nearby. It was Hamas that wouldn't let them leave so the body count would increase.

Goldstone is certainly fighting and fighting hard. He is not a legal fool. He cross checked for consistency his facts. Yet it is disturbing that he did not cross examine his witnesses. If they were not intimidated by hamas even in when not present that would be a first. If he were able even now to inspire an added resolution that dealt with hamas war crimes ongoing as rockets are fired even now at civilians and hold their feet to the fire, then he might be doing something worthwhile. So Goldstone, I ask you to move in your circles a supplementary resolution that deals with hamas war crimes that you alleged. The main resolution does not adequately cover it.If t hings are left the way are, the situation is unbalanced and you will be tainted with bias which will destroy your reputation even now. Lets face it..it is nearly destroyed.

And that Judge Richard Goldstone is not up to debate either! No one denies that Israel uses a heavy hand in defending her people but your refusal to hear testimony from non-anti-Zionists is an affront to the name of jurisprudence. You have played into the hands of those who want to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Those same sub-humans who blow up bases in our cities and Pesach Seders in hotels will kill you too whether you are Judge Goldstone or just Mr. Goldstone just because you are a Jew or standing next to one. Judge Goldstone, take a good look at the persecution of the Jewish people over the eons and just think for one moment of those who stood naked in the gas chambers just because they were Jews and count yourself bloody lucky that you were not there and even with your betrayal if Israel, Israel will make sure that that will not happen to you!

NOBODY here has actually read it. Yes, Goldstone DID specifically find Hamas guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yes, he did record every instance of rocket fire and Israeli retaliation from the ceasefire to the end. No, he did not decline evidence from Sederot citizens. No, he was not swayed by evidence from Hamas fighters, most of the evidence came from individuals, public hearings, doctors, medical reports, satellite photographs, soldiers' testimonies, charity workers etc., etc. They had 10,000 pages of written evidence. Most of the posters here are just writing emotional stuff about what they think - or the AIPAC boys pretend - is in the report. The case against Israel is very expansive, compelling and looks pretty watertight. Time for Israel to get of its soapbox, labelled 'eternal victims, hasbara department' and hold a proper independent judicial inquiry. It is still a democracy I assume? Right, that's how democracies handle war crimes, investigating the culprits and not just trying to blame the judge and court.

As expected, neither of you were able to refute a single factual assertion made by Goldstone. His report is available online. Presumably you have read it, or at least portions, if you condemn it. Show me any fact, of the dozens of incidents he holds against Israel, that is not true. Like many others, you find it hard to choose between arguing that Israel did not target civilians, and Israel had a right to target civilians. You suggest the latter, because they celebrated 9/11, because civilians have been killed in far greater numbers in other conflicts, because "collective punishment" is OK against non-signatories to the Geneva conventions, whatever. Such reasoning would justify Hamas' rockets and even suicide bombing, because the Israeli public elects governments that perpetuate the occupation, because Israel kills far greater numbers of Arab civilians, because Israel violates international law, because Israelis have been known to congregate and say "Death to the Arabs" following a terrorist bombing, whatever. I condemn such killing, and such lame excuses, on both sides. You, however, think it's OK for your own. As for no effort to interview witnesses who would provide counterpoint to the testimony of Hamas' witnesses, Goldstone begged Israel to provide its side of the story but it refused. Unlike you, Goldstone did not accept Israel's excuses for its deadly assault on civilians. His commission actually looked at the evidence and found none to support the farce that Israel was simply returning fire when it slaughtered 1400 people. Just look at the nonsense you believe. Israel dropped leaflets telling people to leave, but Hamas prevented them from leaving, so Israel bombed anyway. Do you even think about this before you say it? Didn't Hamas get the leaflets and leave the area so they weren't killed? How did they physically restrain the poor civilians if they themselves left? Why did Israel bomb anyway despite the fact that Hamas would have left to save themselves, but civilians were waiting to be killed? And then you blame Goldstone for not being ridiculously gullible. As far as "universal morality," I perhaps used the term too loosely. I meant that intentionally killing civilians is wrong, always wrong, regardless of who does it and who are the victims. You Israelis should demand accountability from your government, and insist that it not target civilians. You are factually correct in noting that there are many, many more people whose lives were cut short by my government (which I adamantly condemn), but it is not a moral defense to say that other people get away with worse. Read # 20; he or she is absolutely right.