Printed 1019 Goldstone – Moshe-r
Moshe Babel-Pour
Special to the AJP

Like the majority of Israelis, I am troubled by the U.N.’s Goldstone Report that accuses Israel of human rights violations in the Gaza conflict and reflects an unbalanced ideology and  an unexplainable double standard.

Israelis have tried to avoid combat and sought peaceful dialogue, but the Hamas government has repeatedly refused and retaliated with force. Israel has vowed, like other countries, to protect our citizens at any cost. During recent wars many innocent lives have been lost on both sides.  The endorsement of the Goldstone report by the U.N. Human Rights Council no doubt stems from the high number of casualties in last winter’s conflict, despite the Israeli government’s attempts to minimize the damage and bring aid to the fallen.

The Goldstone Report ignored the suffering of innocent children and adults who have lived abnormal lives in Sderot for more than eight years, dealing with the daily threat of Kassam rockets. South African Judge Richard Goldstone did not check how the Palestinians who live in Gaza feel about Hamas’ decision to continue attacking Israel instead of improving the lives of Palestinians. Hamas does have options that no one ever speaks about.

It’s become common to blame Israel for all the terrible things that happen to the Palestinians. But what about the responsibility of the Hamas government that attacked Israel day after day, which brought about Israeli counterattacks on Gaza? Hamas continued to attack Israel even after Israel relocated 180,000 Israelis from the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory, looking for peace and coexistence with the Palestinians.

So many other terrible things are happening in the world. Eighty-five thousand Iraqis have been killed in Iraq since 2004, but no one is protesting. Why are there no reports on other countries that fight to protect themselves thousands of miles from their borders, like the United States? Goldstone’s double standard becomes more apparent when I look at the situations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, Iran, etc. Please do not misunderstand me; it’s not that I am against criticism of my country, but I seek balance that is not found in Goldstone’s report or in media reports.

Israel, like any other country in the world, has the right to self defense; it does not mean that the Palestinians do not deserve the same right. Our blood is not different from their blood, and the right to live in peace should be for both sides. But first the Palestinians must decide if they want to have a Palestinian state next to an Israeli state, or if they prefer to continue to disagree with any option that includes the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. 

[]Moshe Babel-Pour is Tucson’s community shaliach and director of the Israel Center[].