Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday he was virulently opposed to the establishment of an Israeli inquiry committee to probe the conclusions of a report saying Israel committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
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| Minister Shalom to UN chief: Bury Goldstone Report / Roni Sofer |
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Deputy prime minister meets with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, tells Ynet latter vows not to pass Gaza war report on to General Assembly before examining Human Rights Council's decision to adopt it |
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The defense minister was responding to an interview given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Washington Post, in which he said that he was considering establishing such a committee.
Ynet has found that at least four ministers have publicly supported the move. They are Minister for Minority Affairs Avishai Braverman, Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor, Minister of National Infrastructure Uzi Landau, and Michael Eitan, the minister for improvement of government services.
Meanwhile, the several ministers who support Barak's view include Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Environmental Minister Gilad Erdan.
Israel is currently trying to prevent a UN debate on the Goldstone report, and as part of this Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him to "bury the Goldstone report".
Upon leaving the meeting, Shalom told Ynet he was "optimistic". He said Ban had told him the Security Council would not discuss the report until he had considered the matter further.
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