Now he tells us.
Last week, Richard Goldstone wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that a key conclusion of his U.N. report on Israel’s 2008-2009 Gaza operation — that the Israeli military deliberately targeted civilians — was wrong.
He did not exactly apologize, but he did write, “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”
While this stunning admission is welcome, we believe Goldstone’s mea culpa comes as too little, too late. Moreover, he has sent maddeningly mixed signals, recanting aspects of the report yet at the same time stating publicly that he sees no need to revise it.
The Goldstone Report was an utter disaster for Israel. It put the U.N. imprimatur on the worst of anti-Israel lies, that the Jewish state had an official policy of targeting civilians during combat. That scurrilous charge had 18 months to fester, poisoning Israel’s already shaky standing around the world and making the work of Israel’s enemies that much easier.
Some have called the Post op-ed Goldstone’s Yom Kippur moment. For that to be true, Goldstone, who is Jewish, will have to do more than merely confess to the sin of slandering Israel.
He will now have to make teshuvah, or amends.
That means he must make sure the U.N. nullifies the report. He must tell the world again and again that Israel never targets civilians, that its military abides by the strictest of moral codes and that Israel, like all countries, has a right to defend itself.
So far, it doesn’t appear likely that any of this will happen. Despite early reports that Goldstone expressed willingness to rescind his report, the Associated Press quoted him April 6 as saying that he has “no reason to believe any part of the report needs to be reconsidered at this time.”
This constitutes nothing less than cognitive dissonance. If the report was wrong, how can he and the U.N. continue to stand by it? Given the U.N.’s entrenched hostility toward Israel, we fear that the world body will do nothing.
To his credit, Goldstone has announced plans to visit Israel later this year. He has also gone on the record expressing strong support, even love, for the State of Israel. Perhaps, then, this is not the end of the story, and after time to consider the options, he will work to correct the record.
It cannot happen soon enough. The Goldstone Report has been utterly devastating to Israel. Having its author lead the effort to get it thrown out would be a good start to undoing the damage.