IPSC welcomes EU parliament's support for UN Goldstone Report on Gaza

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Wednesday March 10, 2010 22:36

by Fintan Lane - IPSC media officer

087 12583255

IRELAND-PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN

PRESS RELEASE, 10/3/10

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) welcomes today's vote in the European Parliament calling for the full implementation of the recommendations of the Goldstone Report on the Gaza massacre of 2008/09. MEPs voted their support for the Goldstone Report, which is critical of the Israeli assault on Gaza, by 335 votes in favour to 287 against. A report of the parliamentary vote can be found by clicking on the following link:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/focus_page/00...n.htm

Referring to today's vote, Freda Hughes, spokesperson for the IPSC, said: "This vote is a very positive development because it refocuses attention on the Goldstone Report and, hence, on the involvement of the Israeli armed forces in war crimes. Any impartial investigation of Israeli actions during their assault on Gaza last year would undoubtedly have serious implications for senior figures within the government of that rogue state. Over 1,400 people were killed, including more than 300 children. It was a massacre of civilians and those who ordered it should be held responsible before a court of law. It is clear that they should be charged with war crimes."

She continued: "Israel would like to see the Goldstone Report buried and forgotten. That must not be allowed to happen."

PRESS RELEASE ENDS

For further information, contact Freda Hughes (IPSC spokesperson) at XXXX; or Fintan Lane (IPSC media officer) at 087 1258325.

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Comments (6 of 6)

Efforts underway to 'bury' UN Gaza report

by HB

Fri Apr 02, 2010 18:36

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119444§ionid=3...20202

. . . . Richard Falk criticized the bureaucratic process the report has been going through.

"I think its part of the wider effort basically to bury the recommendations of the Goldstone report, unnecessarily delaying the implementation of its recommendations," the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories told Ma'an news agency.

He said the prolonged process made the UN less likely to hold accused war criminals accountable and that the delays would "remove the reality of what happened in Gaza from the collective memory of world society."

israeli violence in Gaza escalates

Fri Apr 02, 2010 18:44

"Thirteen Israeli air strikes hit Gaza Strip" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8600285.stm

"Israeli warplanes fire on Gaza, 3 children injured" http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=273472

"Israel threatens new Gaza offensive" http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/04/20....html

Since the Israelis have continuously threatened to attack Gaza again, why wouldn't Hamas be arming themselves?

fact - its all about the facts

by tza - me

Tue Apr 13, 2010 08:34

we must also look at what the other saying

off ya go

Tue Apr 13, 2010 14:09

look at it all you want.

The problem for Israel is that it has been caught lying so many times that no one puts much weight on it's protestations of innocence - that's what happens when you prove yourself to be pathological liars

Alan Derschowitz inadvertently condemns the Israeli legal System

by hb

Sat May 29, 2010 15:30

Alan Derschowitz, in his rabid-ranting against Goldstone, inadvertently voices legal grounds for 'Crimes Against Humanity' prosecutions of members of Israeli 'Legal' system, the Israeli military, Israeli Police, and of course various members of the utterly corrupt and criminal Israeli Political Establishment

http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?id=...76086

As for Goldstone's work as a judge under apartheid, Dershowitz says: “His defense of ‘I was just following orders’ is much like the defense used by German judges, and Goldstone authorized the torture of blacks in what’s euphemistically called flogging but is torture under international law.... If the statute of limitations were still viable, he could be prosecuted as a criminal for authorizing the torture of blacks in South Africa. He couldn’t defend himself by saying ‘I was just following a law.’ You cannot follow a law that authorized torture. Particularly torture that had nothing to do with national security. It was punitive.”

Although the excerable Derschowitz attempted to qualify his statement by inserting the weasel-phrase "Particularly torture that had nothing to do with national security" it is meaningless as there are NO exemptions to the International prohibitions against Torture - simply blithely claiming that it is a 'matter of national security', as Israel does in defense of it's wide-spread use of torture, does not in any way protect Israelis from future prosecution for their vile acts of torture.

Despite the rulings of some Israeli courts, torture is accepted and widespread in Israel and many Judges and lawyers in Israel openly collude in the practice.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2010/022310Lendman.shtml

Israel's Supreme Court ruling in Public Committee against Torture in Israel et al v. the Government of Israel et al (the HCJ Torture Petition) established the current legal basis, even though international law prohibits it unequivocally, at all times, under all conditions, with no allowed exceptions - a matter universally binding even on non-signatory states. Israel, however, signed and ratified the 1984 Convention against Torture. Yet no Israeli law explicitly bans it, except for several provisions relating to torture, including assault, abuse of defenseless persons, and the explicit prohibition of force or threats by a public employee toward interrogees.

However, Israeli court rulings ban torture, and the Supreme Court interpreted the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty to mean torture is unacceptable and prohibited. Earlier, "psychological pressure (and) a moderate degree of physical pressure" were permissible, based on the Landau Commission's recommendations that GSS interrogators may commit such acts on the basis of necessity.

The Commission condemned the practice but approved using it to obtain evidence for convictions in criminal proceedings, saying coercive interrogation tactics were necessary against "hostile (threats or acts of) terrorist activity and all expressions of Palestinian nationalism."

Despite a landmark decision on September 6, 1999 by the Israeli High Court law outlawing the use of arbitrary torture as an interrogation method, which revealed Israel as the only ‘democratic’ state in the world that permitted torture by law, methods of torture are still applied by Israeli interrogators of Palestinian detainees.

These methods include violent shaking, isolation, beating, kicking, sleep deprivation, agonizing positioning and infliction of pain for prolonged periods of time. The notorious Landau Commission Recommendations of 1987 approved the use of ‘moderate physical pressure and non-violent psychological pressure’ during the interrogation of Palestinian detainees. Landau Commission Recommendations override the Israeli High Court law by labelling Israel’s designation of the Palestinian Territories as ‘exceptional’ circumstances, thus providing justification for their deire to use what they euphemistically label ‘protective defense policies’ and their desire to conduct ‘effective investigations’ in order to ensure 'security.'

In cases that Israel practiced torture against Palestinian prisoners, explanations and justifications have been based on the necessity of torture due to these ‘exceptional circumstances’. Confessions extracted through torture are admissible in Israeli court. B’Tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) reports that over 85% of Palestinian detainees are tortured during interrogation. TRC’s statistics reveal that 40% of those who are tortured suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

State and Security Services sanctioned Torture is an integral Israeli value - it appears in practice, to have the full support of the Israeli 'Legal' system, the Israeli military, Israeli Police, and of course various members of the utterly corrupt and criminal Israeli Political Establishment

Israelis beat and torture and kill Palestinian children.

Save The Children concluded that:

‘one-third of beaten children were under ten years old, one-fifth under the age of five. Nearly a third of children beaten suffered broken bones.’

havin a look, tza-me

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party

Sun May 30, 2010 21:01

hb has a case,tza-me.If you make a habit of screaming anti-semitism every time someone spills your drink aint nobody gonna listen when your home-grown gestapo take you downtown.Its time Israel took genesis out of its ears and read Darwin.Then the state set up to give refuge to the victims of Euro-fascism might just realise all states can become their peoples public enemy number one.Its just one of the risks of democracy.

The discrepancy between Israeli moral posturing and and its actual behaviour is transparent to any but the most self-destructively insecure.

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IPSC welcomes EU parliament's support for UN Goldstone Report on Gaza

Comments (6 of 6)