The best defense is a good diplomatic offense. Defense Minister Ehud Barak
spoke with a number of senior European officials in the past day ahead of the UN Human Rights Councils' discussion Thursday of the Goldstone Report
that researched actions in Operation Cast Lead.
Among those who received a phone call from the defense minister were French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, British Foreign Minister David Miliband, and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. Israel is trying to limit the potential damage of the discussion after the Palestinians changed their minds and demanded a
detailed discussion of the report's controversial and harsh findings.
During his phone calls, Barak said that the report is "twisted, fraudulent, and tendentious, and encourages terror." He presented Israel's position that adopting the report will boost terrorist organizations throughout the world.
"The world's democratic states must understand that adopting the report will seriously damage their capability of dealing with terrorism in general," said Barak. The defense minister's office claimed that his European counterparts were receptive to his message.
A senior political official said to Ynet that directing the focus onto what is occurring in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah repeatedly violated Security Council Resolution 1701 will place the facts before the countries that support the Goldstone Report.
"This is a fraudulent, one-sided report that does not examine the reality on the ground. None of the countries criticizing Israel would ever been prepared to accept a situation like the one in the towns and cities of the south or the accelerated rearming of Hezbollah, which threatens Israel's citizens," said the source.
The Foreign Ministry is preparing a consultation ahead of a UN debate on the Goldstone report, which will take place at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. The debate is of particular importance to Israel because following it, a vote will be held at upon Palestinian recommendation whether or not to adopt the report alongside another criticism of Israel for its conduct in Jerusalem.
As was published in Ynet, Jerusalem is preparing for a broad diplomatic and public relations campaign,
and are even planning on using this week's mysterious explosion in southern Lebanon as argumentation against the Goldstone Report in a bid to deflect international attention from the report.
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