Thank You, David Shulman

I have been critical of Hebrew U's David Shulman (here and here)

Now we have this letter of his:

For the record, and in the interests of precision—following my article “Goldstone and Gaza: What’s Still True” [NYR, May 26]—I’d like to make it clear that the Goldstone report on Israel’s Cast Lead Operation did note that the missile attacks by Hamas and related groups on Israeli cities prior to the Israeli operation “would constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity” (section 108 of the report). This statement, oddly hedged and couched in the subjunctive, is dwarfed by the overwhelming focus of the Goldstone report on Israel’s actions before and during the campaign.

Goldstone’s reconsideration of his position in the April 1 essay published in The Washington Post seems aimed, in part, at redressing this imbalance. I would like to reiterate that, although I regard Israel’s policy toward Gaza since the withdrawal in 2005 as cruel and counterproductive, and despite the fact that Israel bears responsibility for breaking the cease-fire at crucial points in the period leading up to the campaign, there is no possible justification for Hamas’s deliberate targeting of innocent civilians.

David Shulman
Jerusalem

So precise.

But if he is looking for "justification". many of his fellow academicians can surely let him know why they seem to be facilitating the Hamas terror, if indirectly.

^