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According to annex III of the Goldstone Report, the Fact-finding Mission (FFM) received 31 submissions from members of the public and NGO's, including a number who's evidence supported Israeli claims: a group of fifteen Australian lawyers, Take-a-Pen, Yvonne Green , NGO Monitor, Elihu Richter, Ian Lacey, Maurice Ostroff, Bnai Brith and Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs among others.
Despite the fact that the Mission did not have the cooperation of the Israeli government, the Goldstone Report failed to address most of the highly relevant and credible information contained in these memoranda. We feel that in the absence of an opportunity to examine this important evidence, it is impossible for the public, as well as the UNHRC to whom the Mission was reporting, to properly evaluate it.
As a result Maurice Ostroff, who submitted five memos, requested, in an email to Judge Goldstone as long ago as last August, that all submissions received by the Fact-finding Mission be made available on the Mission's web site for the benefit of the public and more importantly for members of the UNHRC, the Security Council and the General Assembly. Judge Goldstone firmly agreed to support this request in an email to Ostroff:
From Judge Goldstone
From: "rjgoldstone...
To: maurice@t,,,>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:34:49 +0200
Subject: RE: Shana Tova
..I have been under huge pressure with regard not only to the report but my teaching and other commitments. I am not in a position to respond in detail to the many e-mails I have been receiving. I would say, however that I will make inquries and support all the submissions to the Fact Finding Mission being accessible on the web. [The memo goes on to give the reasons for not interviewing Colonel Kemp.]
Warm regards,
Richard Goldstone
(NB: The UK parliamentary Select Committees make a practice of archiving for public view, all memoranda received from the public.)
After significant delays, Ostroff again wrote the Secretariat asking for action in this matter. He received the following reply on October 24, 2009.
In relation to your query as to whether the submissions made to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict in response to the Mission's call of 8 June 2009 would be posted on the UNFFMGC webpage, after further reviewing the material, we have concluded that it would not be appropriate to post them. The reason is that some of the submissions include names of individuals who are indicated as sources of some of the information provided, without indication of their consent to be named publicly. In doubt, and out of respect for those individuals, it would not be possible to make such information public. In the circumstances, doing otherwise would be contrary to established practice with regard to source protection. Rather than being selective in posting information, we have preferred to adopt one standard and all submissions will be retained in the Mission's archives, together with all other documentation received by the Mission. It goes without saying that it remains the prerogative of the authors of the submissions that do not present such problems to publicize them as they consider most appropriate. We have already indicated so to those submitting organizations who have inquired about the same matter".
The reason given by the secretariat directly conflicts with the spirit of the FFM's initial call for submissions which states unambiguously "Unless otherwise indicated by the author, the Mission will assume that submissions can be made public." And given the way in which the Mission ignored the content of these submissions, it seems like this decision, whatever the stated reasons, continues the policy of dismissal by further concealing this evidence.
In the circumstances we have decided to make the Understanding Goldstone site available for publication of submissions to the FFM by all authors who are willing that we do so. We invite such submissions from all, including those whose views are unfavorable to Israel. We do not expect the Mission's site to link to us the way we link to them.
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On June 8, Goldstone's Mission put out a call for submissions from interested parties, to be submitted within 22 days. In it he addressed the issue of confidentiality, making it clear that, as a default, the Mission considered anything they received as publishable by them:
Unless otherwise indicated by the author, the Mission will assume that submissions can be made public.
Call for Submissions
Pursuant to Resolution S-9/1 of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), adopted on 12 January 2009 at the conclusion of the 9th Special Session of the Council, the President of the Human Rights Council established, on 3 April 2009, an International Independent Fact Finding Mission mandated “to investigate all violations of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 whether before during or after”.
The President of the Council, Ambassador Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, appointed the following as members of the Fact Finding Mission: Justice Richard J. Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and current Spinoza Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanity and Social Sciences; Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London; Ms. Hina Jilani, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and former Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders; and Colonel (retired from the Irish Armed Forces) Desmond Travers, member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI).
The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict is pleased to invite all interested persons and organizations to submit relevant information and documentation that will assist in the implementation of the Mission's mandate.
Submissions should focus on events and conduct that occurred in the context of the armed conflict that took place between 27 December 2008 and 19 January 2009. The Mission considers that, for the purposes of its mandate, events since June 2008 are particularly relevant to the conflict.
The Mission would be grateful if submissions were presented as concisely as possible.
Due to time constraints the Mission would be grateful to receive submissions in English, but will also accept submissions in Arabic or Hebrew.
Unless otherwise indicated by the author, the Mission will assume that submissions can be made public. Please indicate whether you wish parts or whole submissions to be treated as confidential.
Any information submitted to the Mission in writing should be sent to the Secretariat of the Fact-Finding Mission c/o OHCHR, G. Motta 48, Geneva, or at the email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, no later than 30 June 2009.
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Prof. Elihu Richter, Director of Genocide Prevention Program at Hebrew University submitted a Brief to Goldstone and his Mission in June of 2009 in which he laid out the issues for consideration. The Mission sought out no corroboration in its work in Gaza, and used none of this material in its judgments.
….Between June 1 2008 and Jan 29 2009 the UN’s executive organs, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council remained silent in the face of…. [Hamas’ and Iran’s] incitement,[to genocide], ignoring their responsibilities under the UN Genocide Convention. This silence persisted despite the precedents from previous genocides, notably Rwanda, that such hate language is a warning sign, predictor, and catalyst of genocide….
…If the Commission fails to call for criminal prosecution of the known facts concerning the cruel and inhuman mis-treatment of Gilad Schalit, the Hamas rocket and terror attacks directed against civilians, and the incitement and hate language, by Hamas and Iran, it will recycle the culture of impunity for such violations of human rights to life, respect for llife and human dignity. By failing to pursue these actions, it will itself have become a complicit bystander to these crimes….
Excerpts from Brief
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Maurice Ostroff's first memorandum to the GFFM emphasizes the problem of demonization of Israelis and Jews and incitement to violence against them by Hamas (and the PA). Had the commission reviewed the evidence before going to Gaza, this exchange between Colonel Travers and two Palestinian psychiatrists could not have taken place in the manner that it did.
Memorandum to the UN fact-finding mission into the recent conflict in Gaza
From: Maurice Ostroff June 21, 2009
A MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO INVESTIGATE GILAD SHALIT’S INCARCERATION AND INCITEMENT TO GENOCIDE
Sadly, none of the reports of your Gaza visit made mention of two very blatant human rights violations that should concern all persons sensitive to Human Rights. I refer to the continuing incarceration of Gilad Shalit and the insidious incitement to genocide that continues on a daily basis in Gaza, as dealt with more fully in Appendices A and B hereto.
International media have reported that Judge Goldstone had expressed admiration for the Palestinians' attitudes toward the probe and that their cooperation would be noted in your report. However, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency was more informative than most other media. On June 2 it reported that while your mandate calls for investigating violations by all parties, including Palestinian fighters and the Hamas-led government, it was unclear if authorities in Gaza would cooperate with that aspect of the inquiry.
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This memo suggests that the judges should consider carefully any evidence offered by the Human RIghts NGOs active in the Gaza Strip, both Palestinian and Western, given their record of often politicization, partisanship and bias. In particular they all tend to obscure and minimize the context of the conflict -- the ideology and practice of terror by Hamas against Israel (and their own civilians). Given how much the Mission relied on this testimony, citing it extensively and uncritically throughout the report, they apparently did not pay much attention to this memorandum.
NGO Monitor
June 09, 2009
NGO Monitor's submission includes factsheets on:
- Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
- Al Mezan
- Amnesty International
- Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Israel is a vibrant parliamentary democracy facing many challenges, including the need to defend its citizens against asymmetric warfare from Hamas-controlled Gaza, the West Bank, and Hezbollah-controlled Southern Lebanon, while protecting the rights of the populations in these areas. In this context, there are numerous and intense debates, and diverse views, on the nature of these responses among many non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs and civil society thrive in Israel and often provide valuable humanitarian assistance, including health services, education, and other basic requirements under different and complex conditions.
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Submission from a group of lawyers in Australia to the Goldstone Commission, June 30, 2009. They express concern over the mandate, the misuse of Goldstone's Jewish identity to lend the inquiry an appearance of impartiality and legitimacy, the problems of responsibility for the outbreak of hostilities, proportionality, ius in bello and ius ad bellum, the role of NGOs and UN agencies in shaping the narrative. They conclude:
The foregoing is a necessarily brief survey of some of the complex issues of fact and law that emerge from the conflict in Gaza. Whilst some of these issues may fall outside the scope of the UNHRC’s mandate for the Inquiry, it is our respectful submission that they bear crucially upon the matters that fall within the mandate. The unseemly attempt in UNHRC Resolution S/9-1 to pre-judge these issues corresponds disturbingly to the predisposition of certain other international organisations, NGO’s and sections of the media to rush to judgement in their condemnations of Israel. The lynch mob mentality towards Israel that is frequently manifested by these groups recalls the ignorant and condemnatory attitude towards Jews that prevailed in an earlier age. Your Honour’s reputation as a jurist leaves us with hope that the Inquiry will not simply capitulate to these pressures. We respectfully recall the Biblical injunction: Justice, justice shall you pursue. (Deuteronomy 16:20).
SUBMISSION TO THE INQUIRY CONDUCTED BY
HIS HONOUR JUSTICE RICHARD GOLDSTONE,
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL,
CONCERNING THE RECENT MILITARY CONFLICT IN GAZA.
A Introduction
1. The following submission has been prepared by a group of lawyers in Australia who are concerned about the recent military conflict in Gaza and the legal and humanitarian issues to which it has given rise. We are especially concerned to ensure that any investigation and inquiry seeking to explore these issues under the mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) observes the rules of procedural fairness and is strictly impartial. We do not question your Honour’s integrity or eminence as a lawyer and human rights advocate. We regret, however, that the past record of the UNHRC and of its predecessor, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, is such that its bona fides cannot simply be assumed. The UNHRC is currently composed of 47 member States of the UN, most of which are Muslim-majority States and their allies with a long record of implacable hostility to Israel’s very existence, in direct contravention of the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter.
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A brief memorandum from a specialist on international law and the Arab Israeli conflict. He goes over the basic legal principles that the Mission should keep in mind when dealing with the conflict.
UNITED NATIONS FACT FINDING MISSION ON THE GAZA CONFLICT
The Submission below is a copy of class notes which I prepared for a lecture which I recently delivered on behalf of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. I hope that the short legal outline will be of assistance.
Ian Lacey. BA, LLB
Editor of the booklet International Law and the Arab-Israel Conflict
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Take-a-Pen's memorandum to the GFFM, with emphasis on the criminal behavior of Hamas, the asymmetry in credibility of witnesses, including the role of intimidation. It would be difficult to argue that any of these points were seriously considered by the FFM.
Memorandum to the UN Fact-finding Mission - about the recent conflict in Gaza
To: Judge Richard Goldstone and the UN Fact-Finding Mission to Gaza
ELEVEN MAJOR WAR CRIMES HAMAS HAS COMMITTED;
I. A. DELIBERATELY TARGETING CIVILIANS; USING THEIR OWN CIVILIAN POPULATION AS HUMAN SHIELD & INCITING TO GENOCIDE
1. The rationale of this submission:
We are honored to submit our contribution to this UN Mission.
The rationale of this submission is twofold: to look into the war crimes Hamas and Hamas leaders have actually committed during, before and after Israel’s recent Gaza military operation, and to demand that Hamas be tried for these war crimes as a fully responsible party.
We’ll briefly present 11 major war crimes that Hamas has committed, i.a. deliberately targeting Israeli civilian populations, using their own population as human shield and their ongoing incitement to genocide, particularly among children and minors.
A failure to prosecute the Hamas leadership in International Court would lead to their war crimes growingly become normative behavior, and to more of the same humanitarian catastrophes, to more victims of oppression and killings undefended by the UN.
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The second memorandum to the GFFM from Take-a-Pen with appendices.
To: Judge Richard Goldstone and the Honorable Members of the UN Fact-Finding Missioninto the Gaza events and suspected war crimes
Supplementary MEMORANDUM
Re: Hamas usage of Human Shields proven by Aerial Maps
- submitted by Take-A-Pen, on July 22, 2009
to Take-A-Pen’s Original MEMORANDUM
submitted to the UN Fact-finding Mission on June 30, 2009, entitled:
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Procedural Flaws 
