Love of the Land: New Revelations About the UN Goldstone Report that Seriously Undermine its Credibility

New Revelations About the UN Goldstone Report that Seriously Undermine its Credibility

IMRA
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
10 February '10

Col. (ret.) Desmond Travers was one of the four members of the UN Fact Finding Mission that produced what is widely called the Goldstone Report. The Mission investigated Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009. Travers joined the Irish Defense Forces in 1961 and retired after forty years. As the only former officer who belonged to Justice Richard Goldstone's team, he was the senior figure responsible for the military analysis that provided the basis for condemning Israel for war crimes.

After following his repeated public appearances with the other mission members in July 2009, and especially in light of his most recent interviews, serious flaws have now become evident in the methodology he followed, in his collection and processing of data, and in the conclusions he draws. In the past, the flaws in the Goldstone report, and especially its lack of balance, have been criticized by the London Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist, but the fundamental problems of its military analysis have not been fully addressed. In the material presented here, this becomes evident in four specific ways:

1. A Fundamental Bias against the Israel Defense Forces

2. False Information Reported About Weapons Systems

3. Completely Inaccurate Data

4. Lack of Professionalism in Conducting Thorough Investigations

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Love of the Land: New Revelations About the UN Goldstone Report that Seriously Undermine its Credibility