What Goldstone Hath Wrought (Rhymes With Ken Roth)

Thanks to Daled Amos:

U.N. rights boss asks U.S. for facts on bin Laden killing

The United Nations' top human rights official called on the United States on Tuesday to give the U.N. details about Osama bin Laden's killing and said that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law.

Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the al Qaeda leader, killed in a U.S. operation in Pakistan on Sunday, was a "very dangerous man...and it would be helpful if we knew the precise facts surrounding his killing. The United Nations has consistently emphasized that all counter-terrorism acts must respect international law," she said in a statement issued in response to a Reuters request.

Ha. The US has been goldstoned.

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Jessica Montell Discovers My Vocabulary Contribution

B'tselem's Jessica Montell writes today in the Washington Post:

The word Goldstone has entered the modern Hebrew lexicon as shorthand for anti-Israel bias and the deterioration of Israel’s international position.

Absolutely and I coined it in October 2009.

Read it here:

goldstoned 

–adjective Slang.

1. attacked for acting in a presumed criminal manner, in particular of abusing human rights and of performing war crimes, - in a manner and fashion which is unfair, based on questionable testimony, framed in radical and progressive political ideology and predicated on a perverse interpretation of law, all the while...

Will the US Be Goldstoned?

Reported:-

A senior United Nations official is expected to call on the United States next week to stop Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes against people suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda...Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Thursday that he would deliver a report on June 3 to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva declaring that the “life and death power” of drones should be entrusted to regular armed forces, not intelligence agencies. He contrasted how the military and the C.I.A. responded to allegations that strikes had killed civilians by mistake.

And the background:

In recent months, top lawyers for the State Department and the Defense Department have tried to square the idea that the C.I.A.’s drone program is lawful...Under the laws of war, soldiers in traditional armies cannot be prosecuted and punished for killing enemy forces in battle. The United States has argued that because Qaeda fighters do not obey the requirements laid out in the Geneva Conventions — like wearing uniforms — they are not “privileged combatants” entitled to such battlefield immunity. But C.I.A. drone operators also wear no uniforms.

Paula Weiss, a C.I.A. spokeswoman, called into question the notion that the agency lacked accountability, noting that it was overseen by the White House and Congress...The Pentagon delayed issuing a 281-page manual laying out commission rules until the eve of the hearing. The reason, officials say, is that government lawyers had been scrambling to rewrite a section about murder because it has implications for the C.I.A. drone program.

More:

...C.I.A. drone operators — who reportedly fly the aircraft from agency headquarters in Langley, Va. — might theoretically be subject to prosecution in a Pakistani courtroom. But regardless, the United States can argue to allies that it is not violating the laws of war.

Mr. Alston, the United Nations official, said he agreed with the Obama legal team that “it is not per se illegal” under the laws of war for C.I.A. operatives to fire drone missiles “because anyone can stand up and start to act as a belligerent.” Still, he emphasized, they would not be entitled to battlefield immunity like soldiers.

Mary Ellen O’Connell, a Notre Dame University law professor who has criticized the use of drones away from combat zones, also agreed with the Obama administration’s legal theory in this case. She said it could provide a “small modicum” of protection for C.I.A. operatives, noting that Germany had a statute allowing it to prosecute violations of the Geneva Conventions, but it does not enforce domestic Pakistani laws against murder.

Goldstone Continues To Goldstone

He writes in today's JPost:

I did not anticipate that the IDF would have targeted civilians and civilian objects. I did not anticipate seeing the vast destruction of the economic infrastructure of Gaza including its agricultural lands, industrial factories, water supply and sanitation works. These are not military targets.

To write that, he must be either a fool, or he doesn't understand war or he is clueless as to Hamas rules and customs (or he is part of the evil system) - not to mention how Germany was defeated in World War II.

He continues to goldstone us.

New Word: Goldstoned

goldstoned
 
–adjective Slang.

1. attacked for acting in a presumed criminal manner, in particular of abusing human rights and of performing war crimes, - in a manner and fashion which is unfair, based on questionable testimony, framed in radical and progressive political ideology and predicated on a perverse interpretation of law, all the while divorced from reality, principles of self-defense and the requirement of a state to protect its civilian population from terror.

2. deriv. dazed from such an attack, for example: "I am goldstoned from the things you say about me".

Origin:

2009 following the excoriation of Israel and its Operation Cast Lead in Gaza by Justice Richard Goldstone in his UN Human Rights Commission directed Fact-finding Mission.



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For reference:

- The Goldstone report reflects the massive influence of NGOs, with more
than 500 direct citations from highly politicized groups that lack
credibility, many of which are funded by European governments.
- The reliance on statements, publications, and submissions from these
NGOs is inconsistent with the claim to have conducted a “fact finding
mission.” By adopting the flawed methodologies and false claims from the
NGOs, Goldstone renders his entire report and its conclusions invalid.
- NGOs and Goldstone maintain a symbiotic relationship: The NGO network
actively promoted the Goldstone inquiry, supported claims of a “balanced”
mandate, and attacked Israel for not cooperating.
- In turn, Goldstone bolstered NGO credibility by relying on their
publications, ignoring biases and false claims, praising their “high
professional standard,” and defending them against “repression” from the
Israeli government.

Highlights of the detailed reports include:

- Details on European government funded NGOs that shaped a major portion
of the claims and allegations targeting Israeli in the Goldstone.
- Goldstone and other members of the commission have close links to HRW,
Amnesty International, PCHR, and other politicized NGOs. Staff researcher
Sareta Ashraph has been involved with pro-Palestinian NGOs and “lawfare”
campaigns.
- The report adopts NGO misinterpretations of international law,
including the claims that Gaza remains occupied and that Israel does not
have a right to self-defense.
- NGO statements that did not fit Palestinian narrative were distorted or
ignored, in order to maximize the condemnations of Israel.