Letter to Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario 
K1A 0A6

16 November 2009

Dear Minister:

I am gravely concerned about your government's attempts to let Hamas and Israel escape scrutiny for the alleged war crimes they committed during Operation Cast Lead in January. Many reputable organisations, including Israeli human rights groups, have credible evidence that both sides to this conflict perpetrated violations of international law and the Geneva Conventions. If the world is to move toward justice and the rule of law, we must hold accountable those who behave reprehensibly. Canada's own reputation is at risk if we actively work to enable the accused to avoid scrutiny and due process.

So I was shocked and saddened to learn that not only did our representative at the United Nations General Assembly vote against adoption of a resolution to “[give] Israel and the Palestinians three months to undertake 'independent, credible investigations' into serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed during the conflict in Gaza”, but also he was quoted in a UN press release as saying “his delegation had voted against the resolution because it was concerned about the imbalanced nature of the Goldstone Report, as it had not called on an investigation by both sides. It had assumed that Israel was wholly culpable.”

Was our delegation correctly quoted? Did he really state that the Goldstone Report “had not called on an investigation by both sides” and that the report had found “Israel … wholly culpable”?

The Goldstone report specifically recommended on page 427, paragraph 1974 (a) “The Mission recommends that the Palestinian Authority should... ensure prompt and independent investigation of all allegations of serious human rights violations by security forces under its control...”.

It would be appreciated if you would determine if the UN press release accurately quoted your representative. If not, what steps will you be taking to correct the record? If, however, the quotation is correct, what steps are you planning to take to repair the damage to Canada's reputation done by having your representative make such ridiculous and patently false statements? Also, will you be asking your UN staff to read the report before making comments that are entirely at odds with the actual report they are voting against?

If/when we receive a response we will be sure to post it on this blog.

Canada Embarrasses Itself

As a Canadian, I am ashamed that our delegation to the UN General Assembly voted against the Goldstone Report. More incredibly, in the UN Press Release, it was reported:

Also speaking in explanation of vote, Canada’s speaker said his delegation had voted against the resolution because it was concerned about the imbalanced nature of the Goldstone Report, as it had not called on an investigation by both sides. It had assumed that Israel was wholly culpable

....not called on an investigation by both sides...!?!?!?! On what planet does the Canadian delegation inhabit? From the Goldstone Report (2009-09-25 edition):

1969 (e) The Mission recommends that, upon receipt of the committee’s report, the Security Council should consider the situation and, in the absence of good-faith investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards having been undertaken or being under way within six months of the date of its resolution under Article 40 by the appropriate authorities in Gaza, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pursuant to article 13 (b) of the Rome Statute;

1974. To responsible Palestinian authorities,

(a) The Mission recommends that the Palestinian Authority should issue clear instructions to security forces under its command to abide by human rights norms as enshrined in the Palestinian Basic Law and international instruments, ensure prompt and independent investigation of all allegations of serious human rights violations by security forces under its control, and end resort to military justice to deal with cases involving civilians;

Tis to weep. Not only is Canada complicit in attempts to cover up and hide war crimes by both Hamas and Israel, it justified this with lies and misrepresentations.

H Res 867 Passes

Although H Res 867 passed (no surprise there), it is encouraging that some in Congress are not led by the nose: most notably Rep. Dennis Kucinich who understands the dangers of denying the holocaust war crimes:

“Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist.

“Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian.

For more see: Information Clearinghouse. For details on who voted which way (there were 36 who feel that giving both Hamas and Israel a pass on war crimes might not be such a good idea), see the Library of Congress webpage on H. Res. 867.

UN General Assembly Adopts Goldstone Report

Not surprisingly, the UN General Assembly has adopted the Goldstone report (see, for example, Haaretz: UN General Assembly adopts Goldstone report). The actual resolution has not yet been posted on the UN GA website but as soon as we can get it we'll post it.

Goldstone Responds to the Outrageous Claims in HR 867

The good Judge has written to the authors of HR 867, demolishing (in more diplomatic terms than my posting below) many of the claims in the resolution. See http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/20091102084338810.

Col. Kemp goes over the top

Colonel Richard Kemp (UK) has received an astounding amount of media coverage for his defence of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza:

During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

His testimony in general, and the quotation above in particular, raise some interesting questions:

• Since Col. Kemp was no where near Gaza or Israel at the time of Operation Cast Lead, how can he make such an assessment?
• Since Col. Kemp was the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan and he says the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of citizens than any other army (which must include the army Col Kemp led); and since we have evidence of multiple war crimes by the IDF, how many more war crimes have Col Kemp and his troops committed in order that he can say the IDF committed fewer?

Which inevitably leads to this question: When will the UN and/or the International Criminal Court be investigating Col. Kemp?

House Resolution 867 - The US Congress Disses the Goldstone Report

Not surprisingly, the US congress, ever obedient to the Israel Lobby, has piled on the bandwagon of ad hominem and slanderous attacks on the Goldstone Report. Here is the entire body of the resolution, deconstructed paragraph-by-paragraph to illustrate how facts are irrelevant when you wish to lynch someone.