Polls indicate that President Obama enjoys the support of only 6 to 10 percent of the Israeli public — perhaps his lowest popularity in any country in the world.
According to media reports, the president’s advisers are searching for ways of reassuring Israel’s public of President Obama’s friendship and unqualified commitment to Israel’s security.
That friendship and commitment are real, President Obama’s poll numbers in Israel notwithstanding. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to reinforce that message during her visit to Israel. The presidential envoy George Mitchell has reportedly been asked to make similar efforts during his far more frequent visits to Jerusalem. Read the rest of this entry »
In his latest interview with CNN, Richard Goldstone rejected criticisms that he was “a traitor to Israel” and “anti-Semitic”. When asked about his thoughts whether there has been any movement from Israeli and/or Hamas following the release of his report, he stated that there is a clearer movement on the Hamas side whereas there is a split in the Israeli Government.
On Friday the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the Goldstone Report, which found evidence of war crimes by both Hamas and Israel in the Gaza War. The vote was 25-6 with 16 abstentions. The US opposed the resolution while Britain and France did not vote. (The full list is at the bottom of the entry.)
The five-page resolution was remarkable for two reasons. First, it not only condemned Israeli crimes during Operation Cast Lead but also, beyond the war, denounced Israeli human rights violations in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Second, although Goldstone Report cites both Hamas and Israel, the resolution explicitly names only Israel as a violator of international law. Goldstone criticized the UN decision to condemn only Israel, saying that the wording of the resolution was unfortunate.
Israel will continue to exercise its right to self-defense and to preserve the security of its citizens.
Israel believes that the decision harms efforts to protect human rights in accordance with international law and hinders efforts to promote the peace process as well as encouraging terror organizations around the world.
Israel thanks the countries that supported our position, and those who, with their vote, voiced their opposition to the unjust decision which ignores the murderous Hamas attacks against Israeli citizens… The decision ignores the fact that the Israel Defense Forces took unprecedented measures to avoid harming innocent civilians, and the fact that terror organizations used civilians as human shields in Gaza.
In contrast, Hamas welcomed the decision and said that they hoped that it would lead to “the beginning of the prosecution of the leaders of the occupation”. The Palestinian Authority said that a follow-up on implementation of the recommandations in the report, “to protect the Palestinian people from Israeli aggression”, was needed.
This may be the end of the line, however, for the report. The resolution asks that the Security Council forward the findings to the International Criminal Court, but the US, France, and Britain are unlikely to support the move. Indeed, with substantive action unlikely, the resolution may be an unexpected victory for Israel, with the United Nations proving its “one-sided position”.
FOR the resolution: Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia
AGAINST the resolution: United States, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine
ABSTAINING: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Korea, Slovenia, Uruguay, Britain, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola
On Thursday, Palestinian Authority agreed to delay until March a vote set for today at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. If the report had been endorsed by the Council, the UN Security Council would have been able to bring Israelis before the International Criminal Court at The Hague for prosecution of war crimes or crimes against humanity. Although support for the report was strong enough to get a general endorsement, six nations (US, Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, and Britain) could not find common ground on the text with the other 41 members. Read the rest of this entry »
On Thursday, John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency’s top official in Gaza, said that “the number of Gazans living in abject poverty has tripled this year to 300,000 – one in five residents”. He called the rise in poverty a “predictable consequence” of the border blockade and added, “The suffering, the impoverishment, the misery of the people here in Gaza continues to rise because of a man-made crisis, a political failure.”
Ging’s statement casts light on “the West Bank success story” being trumpeted by Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren:
Imagine an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage. Where in today’s gloomy global market could one find such gleaming forecasts? Singapore? Brazil? Guess again. The West Bank.
Fatah Holds Line on Israel’s Settlements: On Tuesday, Fatah’s Central Committee, the movement’s key decision-making body, met with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Last week’s tripartite meeting was discussed during the meeting. The faction declared that Abbas must not resume peace talks unless Israel freezes its settlement construction.
Mohammed Dahlan, a committee member, said the panel told Abbas he must not budge, as “settlements and negotiations are two parallel lines that will never meet”. According to Dahlan, Fatah’s reservation on the peace process is also an advantage that can be used as leverage against President Barack Obama’s insistance on peace talks “without preconditions”.
Netanyahu Blasts Goldstone Report on Gaza:Richard Goldstone told CNN on Wednesday that Israel had targeted civilian sites during the Gaza War, though he stressed that he did not believe it was an Israeli policy: “Some of the killing…was certainly intentional. There was no mistake in bombing factories. The Israeli intelligence has very precise information.”
On Tuesday, Washington urged Tel Aviv to conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes conducted during the offensive operation in Gaza. Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, said:
We encourage Israel to utilise appropriate domestic (judicial) review and meaningful accountability mechanisms to investigate and follow up on credible allegations. If undertaken properly and fairly, these reviews can serve as important confidence-building measures that will support the larger essential objective which is a shared quest for justice and lasting peace.
The U.N. Human Rights Council held a one-day debate on the Goldstone report and reiterated the charges of war crimes both by Hamas and Israel.
After Washington’s statement, Richard Goldstone responded: “United States has called for acceptable investigations of the allegations by both sides. I think that’s important support.” As for the possiblity of bringing Israeli officials in justice, Goldstone said: “International courts are courts of last resort, not first resort.”
Goldstone’s report urges the U.N. Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court in the Hague if either Israeli or Palestinian authorities fail to investigate and prosecute those suspect of such crimes within six months.
A bit of a tricky consideration for Anglo-Israeli talks: British lawyers for 16 Palestinians are seeking an international arrest warrant for Israel’s defence minister.
Still, Ehud Barak, followed by reporters and demonstrators, met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Minister David Miliband at the Labour Party conference in Brighton.
Amidst the Goldstone Report’s conclusion that Israel had been responsible for war crimes during its offensive in Gaza, solicitors asked a district judge at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court to issue a warrant for Barak’s arrest under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act, alleging that Barak had committed offences against the 1957 Geneva Conventions. Read the rest of this entry »
Is the strained relationship between Israelis and the Obama Administration the consequence of mistakes made by the Obama Administration, as argued by Haaretz’s Bradley Burston, or of a fear culture promoted by the Netanyahu Government, as New York Times’s Henry Siegman contends? 
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On Thursday, John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency’s top official in Gaza, said that “
Fatah Holds Line on Israel’s Settlements: On Tuesday, Fatah’s Central Committee, the movement’s key decision-making body, met with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Last week’s tripartite meeting was discussed during the meeting. The faction declared that 
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