Israel prepares for an international legal assault
Israel prepares to face the UN Commission and the private complaints that might be submitted against it in the aftermath of the Gaza incursion, compiling a "defense dossier" with the footage it gathered through the operation days and even testimonies of foreign journalists who covered Gaza.
The establishment of the Goldstone Commission, aka the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which investigated the operations of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09 and published a scathing report, is etched in the memory of Israelis as a particularly traumatic event. Later on, Judge Richard Goldstone expressed remorse over the devastating report he penned against Israel, yet the damage could not be undone.
The past few years have seen quite a few international incidents whereby senior Israeli officials had to skip over “problematic” airports, such as London’s Heathrow, lest they be arrested following private lawsuits filed against them. Tzipi Livni, once Israel’s foreign minister and today its justice minister, is a case in point.
This phenomenon peaked when former OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Doron Almog landed in London in September 2005 and was instructed by the Israeli Embassy staff there not to get off the plane when it became apparent that an arrest warrant had been issued against him in the United Kingdom. Compliant, Almog remained on board until the plane took off back to Israel.
Now it seems that the old tune is being replayed. The UN Commission on Human Rights has already announced that it will launch a formal investigation. On a visit to The Hague, senior Palestinian officials were looking into the possibility of serving indictments against senior Israeli officials at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. This has already elicited great concern in Jerusalem.
