Commission Chairwoman Mary McGowan Davis. Propaganda and false claims
Photo: AFP
Israel must take action to reduce international damage
Op-ed: An Israeli initiative such as 'Gaza reconstruction in exchange for demilitarization' won't affect the dark and hostile majority in the UN Human Rights Council, but it will give Israel a lot of credit.
Although it was clear to begin with that the Schabas Commission, which turned into the Davis Commission,
would not reach any different findings and conclusions from those reached by the Goldstone Commission, there is no comfort here.
The report also includes true findings. Not every word written in it, regarding specific events, is a lie. There were exceptions. There were innocent casualties. Every serious claim should be checked and even investigated.
No criticism, no attempt to search for the truth. It was another victory for the BDS campaign. While the headlines in the world are that "both sides committed war crimes," no one cares about Hamas. The target was and remains Israel.
Gaza War Report
Nahum Barnea
Op-ed: While world powers are exempted from investigation and punishment, and tyrant regimes in Africa and in the Middle East are reprimanded from time to time but don’t give a damn, Israel is stuck in a bad place in the middle.
Nonetheless, we are talking about a mega-fraud. When the committee's chairwoman asserts that the scale of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was "unprecedented," she is not presenting a factual claim. She is presenting a propaganda claim, and mainly a false claim.
While global headlines are that 'both sides committed war crimes,' no one cares about Hamas. Target was and remains Israel (Photo: AFP)
The commission was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which has an automatic majority in favor of any anti-Israel resolution. It's safe to assume that even if it turned out that Israel had determined that planet Earth is round, the council members would have made a decision that planet Earth is triangular.
The report itself raises claims against Israel's "anti-Palestinian rhetoric," including a sexist attitude towards women. That's an interesting argument, because the report does not include a single word about Hamas' ideology, or charter, which supports the annihilation of Jews. The Human Rights Council – in which Iran, Sudan and Libya hold a majority – can be satisfied. The commission, another commission, delivered the goods.
Nonetheless, Israel is in need of self-examination, because all of the above was known in advance. And at the end of the day, Israel is forced to justify itself. Israel can take action even vis-à-vis a dark and hostile council. For example, it can advance an initiative of "reconstruction in exchange for demilitarization."
Even on Monday, when all media outlets in the world were waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response, he could have said: We have no interest in harming the Strip's resident. We are extending our hand to them in peace. Want a port? Want an end to the siege? No problem. Under one condition – demilitarization.
It's true that there is no chance Hamas will jump at the initiative. But Israel can reduce the international damage, because despite it all and after all, not all the world is against us, definitely not all the free world. An Israeli initiative won't affect the dark majority in the council, but it will give Israel a lot of credit which it shouldn't give up.
So the lies must be refuted, and the bias and fraud must be exposed. But that's not enough. Israel must present an initiative that contains hope, not out of surrender, but the exact opposite. That's the Israeli interest.
