These People Don't Agree on Anything!

For three weeks in the winter of 2008 to 2009, Israel assaulted the Gaza Strip and went after the Hamas operatives who rule the area. But the military struggle, code-named Operation Cast Lead, would become a mere prelude for the drawn-out political and legal struggle to follow.

In September 2009, the U.N. Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission, led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, released a scathing report accusing Israel of violating humanitarian law in its attack -- in essence, not merely targeting the Hamas militants who threatened Israel, but practicing a form of collective punishment against all Palestinians living in Gaza. The report found that the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "constitute[s] grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such give rise to individual criminal responsibility."

The report's findings stoked outrage in the Arab world, threatened to isolate Israeli internationally -- and raised the specter of prosecution in foreign criminal courts for some of Israel's leading politicians. Benjamin Netanyahu's government reacted with equal anger, accusing its critics of distorting the record of the Israeli armed forces and of bias against the Jewish people. Defense Minister Ehud Barak referred to the report as "false, distorted, and irresponsible," while Information Minister Yuli Edelstein described it as "simply a type of anti-Semitism."

On Jan. 29, the Israeli government fired back with a comprehensive defense of its conduct during Operation Cast Lead. On virtually every aspect of the Gaza war -- including Israeli intentions, the efficacy of Israel's own investigations, and specific events that occurred during the war -- these two competing reports paint a picture of conflicts that are essentially unrecognizable from each other. Here's a guide to the most explosive disagreements between the two documents.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

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ASGOLD25

10:33 AM ET

February 3, 2010

Thanks, I suppose

Nice of you to sum up what the two reports said, but I think what most people are looking for is a more definitive idea of what actually took place in Gaza. In my mind, the Israeli report is by its very nature flawed, since no military would ever in its right mind publish a report to the public admitting to human rights abuses (although it may do so internally). At the same time, I doubt the veracity of the Goldstone report. The UN has seemingly devoted more time to condemning Israel over the years than any other issue (and there are many others that deserve the attention), and thus has become imbued with a culture that is inherently anti-Israeli while at the same time lacking legitimacy.

Nonetheless, I tend to think that we need some fresh thinking in solving this conflict. The Bush Administration's willingness to turn a blind eye to Israel's activities in the West Bank and Gaza, while feigning indifference to the peace process, certainly made things worse over the past decade. Yet the approach of the Obama Administration, with its emphasis on putting pressure on Israel (and some people's belief that we should cut aid to Israel altogether) has not succeeded and probably will never succeed because it fails to address the underlying source of this geopolitical conflict. Israel will not relinquish control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip until it is certain that its security can be maintained indefinitely. We must be mindful of the fact that Israel was born out of the near destruction of the Jewish people in the Holocaust with the express purpose of being a home for them so that their preservation could be ensured. Until resistance groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad (to name a few) accept Israel's right to exist, peace will never be a reality because Israel will still feel insecure, and will thus do anything in its power to bolster its security.

BOREDWELL

10:46 AM ET

Quid pro non

The IDF's report, intended as a counterpoint to Goldstone's report, failed, except in its tit for tat tone and spirit, to spark the same level of publicity as did the Report itself! It is wholly inappropriate and blatantly disingenuous for the IDF to investigate itself, appraise its performance and conclude its military actions were appropriate and restrained. To further compound the audacity of the IDF's spurious pushback is the concerted effort by the Big Guns-Netanyahu, Barak and Edelstein to refute Goldstone's findings by calling up then hiding behind that most univerally pejorative and frightening of monsters - anti-Semitism. The IDF knows that independent sources have verified statements from troops who admitted having committed atrocities against the civilian population (ie, targeting pregnant women means to kill 2 generations with one shot;" using civilians for cover, bombing the UN run school and bombing hospitals, et al); photos/video and eye witness accounts provide further proof of these transgressions. Israel's embargo is in and of itself used to punish and reduce the civilian population through starvation and disease. Israel says to the world, "I have a catapult. Whether you give or don't give me what I want , I will fling an enormous rock at your head."

KP_YOSSARIAN

2:44 PM ET

Mortar

IDF soldiers should go on the Olympics games. The accurancy of their moratar fire has been awesome. They hit exactly both Palestinian youngsters who had been Hamas operatives in a crowd.

MENSOELREY

7:30 PM ET

Does it matter?

It is incredible the extent to which people will defend Israel, even after so blatant a crime as Operation Cast Lead. Even after 400 children were killed, Israel's defenders continue to maintain that the IDF has never and would never aim at an innocent. The IDF, the Israel Lobby, the Israeli right wing, they are just one big, dangerous joke.

RICKYY

6:20 PM ET

February 10, 2010

UN Report -- on Israel

Does the UN have any credibility concerning Israel ?

Why not just let Mensoelrey write the next report. To be filed in the appropriate receptacle.

Foreign Policy Magazine

These People Don't Agree on Anything!

I read 627 pages of Gaza war reports so you don't have to.

BY DAVID KENNER | FEBRUARY 2, 2010

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