Nationalist Agrees: Hold 'Cast Lead' Inquiry
Tishrei 28, 5770, 16 October 09 10:20
by Gil Ronen(Israelnationalnews.com) Israel should agree to appoint its own committee to look into the allegations of the Goldstone report, veteran nationalist pundit and spokesman Attorney Elyakim HaEtzni told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service. Refusing to do so, he said, only creates the impression that Israel has something to hide. "It is time to stand before the nations of the world, hold our head up high and stand up for our dignity,” HaEtzni said.
US President Barack Obama has adopted a fair position on the Goldstone report about alleged war crimes during the Cast Lead counter-terror operation, HaEtzni contended. “The fact is that the US has really been on our side in this case,” he said. “They said that they would not let the Goldstone report be discussed in the Security Council and that if it happened they would cast a veto.”
HaEtzni, a patriotic firebrand who served as a Knesset Member for the Techiya party in the past, said that allegations of specific wrongdoing during a military campaign are legitimate, he said, and Israel should appoint a committee to check the claims against it. He also agreed that the IDF should not investigate itself in this matter “because no body can ever be trusted to investigate itself.”
Legal action against criminals
HaEtzni said that in his opinion, Israel should have handled the allegations against it in a different manner from Day One: “The Foreign Ministry should have come out and said that we think the Goldstone report is undependable for various reasons that we could have enumerated, and there is no lack of such reasons – and if they accuse IDF soldiers of committing crimes in the war, no problem... we are not running away anywhere. You claim that the soldiers committed war crimes? We will investigate ourselves and if we discover such cases we will know how to reach the conclusions. But we want to investigate this because it is important to us as well. We cannot live at peace with war crimes and if we used chemical weapons improperly we will take legal action against the criminals.” He noted, however, that the use of the chemical weapons which were employed in Cast Lead is legal.
HaEtzni said that in his opinion, Israel should have handled the allegations against it in a different manner from Day One: “The Foreign Ministry should have come out and said that we think the Goldstone report is undependable for various reasons that we could have enumerated, and there is no lack of such reasons – and if they accuse IDF soldiers of committing crimes in the war, no problem... we are not running away anywhere. You claim that the soldiers committed war crimes? We will investigate ourselves and if we discover such cases we will know how to reach the conclusions. But we want to investigate this because it is important to us as well. We cannot live at peace with war crimes and if we used chemical weapons improperly we will take legal action against the criminals.” He noted, however, that the use of the chemical weapons which were employed in Cast Lead is legal.
“If they make all kinds of general claims, such as why we imposed a siege on Gaza, we should tell them to go to hell,” he explained. “I am willing to fight them over every centimeter of the Land of Israel, just like I am unwilling to compromise about my homeland, my mother and my wife. But in matters of morality one must be flexible and not let them gain the high ground.”
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