The following is a portion of a larger Memorandum to the UNHRC re: The Goldstone Report. 

This section addresses the

• rejection and omission of credible and relevant evidence, 
• intimidation of Palestinian witnesses, and 
• refusal to consider evidence of Arab media dehumanizing Israelis and inciting violence against them.

1.      Rejection and omission of credible relevant evidence
A great deal of highly credible information that would certainly have a bearing on the HRC evaluation was submitted to the Commission, yet it has been omitted from the Report without explanation  In the interests of truthful and impartial evaluation by the HRC, I believe it is essential that this information be made available and seriously considered.  For example

1.1.   Memorandum from Australian lawyers
The content of a professionally prepared document, submitted by a group of 15 eminent Australian lawyers, has been completely ignored. Certainly, the HRC members should not be denied an opportunity to read it. See http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/australianlawyers.pdf

1.2.   Colonel Richard Kemp (see Appendix A)
During July the International Commission for Jewish Legal Affairs submitted a speech by Col. Richard Kemp, former Commander of the British Forces on Afghanistan and adviser to the UK cabinet, who has expert knowledge of warfare in conditions similar to those in Gaza,

That highly significant evidence was totally ignored on the grounds that "there was no reliance on Col. Kemp mainly because the Report did not deal with the issues he raised regarding the problems of conducting military operations in civilian areas and second-guessing decisions made by soldiers and their commanding officers in the fog of war. The Mission avoided having to do so in the incidents it decided to investigate". This explanation is completely unacceptable, since it is a sine qua non that investigating war crimes essentially involves the military operations in civilian areas. 

It is also plainly illogical that, despite Judge Goldstone's acknowledgment at a press conference in April that the Mission would be heavily dependent on military advice, it deliberately rejected recommendations that Colonel Richard Kemp, be invited to give evidence or that his views, available on a video clip, be heard. Seehttp://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id199.html.

1.3.   Reluctant witnesses
Although the Mission was aware that some critical Palestinian witnesses had withdrawn citing fear of retribution, it failed to take advantage of leads to trace some critical witnesses, as well as to view video presentations in which Palestinians who had fled from Hamas described Hamas' abuse of hospitals and ambulances.
(See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLFAJK5LtwY

In these circumstances, the Mission was remiss in failing to exert every effort to obtain evidence from these reluctant witnesses by all possible means, including offers of anonymity and protection. The witnesses can still be readily traced via the abundance of textual and visual evidence available on the Internet, and the report must be considered incomplete unless such evidence is included.

1.4.   Analyses of Arab media, incitement  and dehumanization (see Appendix B)

Since the members of the Mission are not fluent in Arabic they were neither able to assess the influence of public opinion in Gaza, nor the extent of the pervasive incitement and dehumanization that continues in mosques, schools, and on official TV. In the circumstances, it is egregious that recommendations to invite testimony from specialist organizations that document and translate the Arab media were ignored.

During an interview on Al Jazeera TV, Judge Goldstone emphasized that dehumanization of the other is the primary factor in the commission of horrific acts like genocide. Despite this, not a single word is mentioned about the daily incitement against infidels, Jews, and Israel that continues unabated in PA mosques and schools, contrary to the Oslo agreements and the 2003 Roadmap. In the At Al Omari mosque, the imam refers to Jews as "the brothers of apes and pigs." In a video presentation received, but ignored by theMission, a three year old is taught that Jews are the sons of pigs and apes, and a school class is taught to strive for martyrdom by killing as many Jews as possible.  See         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx-CW3UKoIg&feature=related 

Appendix A  - Colonel Kemp

See http://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id199.html

In view of Colonel Kemp's unique experience in warfare under conditions similar to those in Gaza, and the lack of military knowledge on the part of most members of the Mission, common sense dictates that at the very least, the Mission and the HRC would be anxious to learn what he could contribute to an understanding of the events under investigation.

Even if the Mission disagreed with his authoritative and publicly expressed views, its responsibility to provide an educated report imposed a duty on it, to at least advise members of the HRC of the existence of these views, so that you can judge for yourselves. It is interesting, that to a great extent, Colonel Kemp's evaluation is consistent with the statements made by a Hamas fighter as detailed in Appendix A.

Intellectual honesty requires that, in evaluating evidence about situations that they have not personally experienced, non-military investigators dare not ignore key practical military aspects like those enumerated by experts such as Colonel Kemp. The credibility of the report would certainly have been enhanced had it referred to his remarks that the battlefield - in any kind of war - is a place of confusion, chaos, and fast-moving action. Sadly, the report has ignored the context explained by Colonel Kemp that in the type of conflicts that the IDF fought in Gaza and in Lebanon, and that Britain and America are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, these age-old confusions and complexities are made a hundred times worse by the fighting policies and techniques of the enemy.

Islamist fighting groups carefully study the international laws of armed conflict and understand it well. They know that a British or an Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it, and they do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses.

The very modus operandi of these insurgents is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, whilst they employ a deliberate policy of consistently operating outside of international law.

Civilians and civilian property are routinely exploited by these groups, in deliberate and flagrant violation of international laws or reasonable norms of civilized behavior.

Protected buildings, mosques, schools, and hospitals are used as strongholds. Legal and proportional responses by a Western army are deliberately exploited and manipulated in order to produce international outcry and condemnation.

Colonel Kemp refers to Hamas combatants deliberately positioned behind the human shields of the civilian population. Hamas also ordered men, women, and children from their own population to stay put in places they knew were about to be attacked by the IDF. Israel was fighting an enemy that is deliberately sacrificing its own people, deliberately trying to lure us into killing its own innocent civilians.

And Hamas, like Hezbollah, is also highly expert at driving the media agenda. Both groups will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.

Whenever possible, the IDF gave at least four hours' notice to civilians to leave areas targeted for attack. The IDF dropped over 900,000 leaflets warning the population of impending attacks to allow them to leave designated areas. The IDF phoned over 30,000 Palestinian households in Gaza, urging them - in Arabic - to leave homes where Hamas might have stashed weapons or be preparing to fight.

Many attack helicopter missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were cancelled if there was too great a risk of civilian casualties in the area. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even though delivering aid virtually into enemy hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable.

Whether or not the Mission agrees with Colonel Kemp's views, the report is most certainly incomplete in omitting to apprise the HRC of his summation that, by taking these actions, the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army has done in the history of warfare. Seehttp://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id199.html.

Appendix B - Incitement and dehumanization

During an interview on Al Jazeera TV, Judge Goldstone emphasized that dehumanization of the other is the primary factor in the commission of horrific acts like genocide. Having acknowledged this central role of dehumanization, it is astonishing and dare I say unforgivable, that a memorandum I sent, drawing attention to the all pervasive dehumanization of infidels, Israel and the Jews that continues unabated in PA mosques and schools, was completely ignored. The Report is defective in that it does not contain one word about this fundamental prime mover in the Arab Israel conflict blatant violation of the Oslo agreements and the 2003 Roadmap.

Because the incitement is in Arabic, I recommended that the HRC avail itself of the valuable services provided by two organizations that translate Arabic programs to English.  This too was ignored to the detriment of the Report's credibility. They are:

• Middle East Media Research institute (MEMRI) http://www.memri.org/
• Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) http://www.pmw.org.il/

The frequently quoted concept of a cycle of violence in which one side attacks, the other retaliates, and so on, is fallacious in that it omits the essential component of the incitement that fuels the fires of hate. The power of words must not be underrated. Hitler’s monstrous crimes against humanity started with the identical abuse of words echoed today in Gaza schools and mosques, and on TV like the imam at the At Al Omari mosque, who refers to Jews as "the brothers of apes and pigs."

In a video presentation received, but ignored by the Mission, a three year old is taught that Jews are the sons of pigs and apes and a school class is taught to strive for martyrdom by killing as many Jews as possible.

The Mission also totally ignored a very recent PA TV broadcast of an event during which the October 2000 murder and savage mutilation of two Israeli reservists by a frenzied mob of Palestinians was celebrated and lauded as an example of national pride and duty. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEqeKdjJto0

While incitement is regarded by some as the inchoate crime of preparing for another crime, others regard the crime as complete even if the person incited fails to commit the act for which he or she has been incited. Either way, Article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, states clearly that direct and public incitement to commit genocide are punishable acts.