Richard
Goldstone, the jurist who authored a UN report accusing Israel of war
crimes and crimes against humanity during its war on Gaza, has
challenged the US to justify its claims that his findings are flawed
and biased. Goldstone told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he had
not heard from the administration of Barack Obama, the US
president, about the flaws Washington claims to have identified in the
report.
"I
have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the flaws in the
report that they have identified are. I would be happy to respond to
them, if and when I know what they are," Goldstone said.
"The
Obama administration joined our recommendation calling for full and
good-faith investigations, both in Israel and in Gaza [by Hamas], but
said that the report was flawed."
'Personal attack'
Goldstone said the attacks on him had become personal and that he believed most critics had not even read the report.
"I've no doubt, many of the critics - the overwhelmingly majority of critics - have not read the report," he said.
"And, you know, what proves that, I think, is that the level of criticism does not go to the substance of the report.
"There
still have not been responses to the really serious allegations that
are made. People generally don't like to be accused of criminal
activity.
"So it didn't surprise me that there was criticism, even strong criticism, and it has come from both sides."
Goldstone said he regretted the "extremes from which some of the criticism has come and the fact that it has been so personal".
The remarks follow US criticism of the report, which it says is one-sided.
The US was among countries which voted against a UN human rights
council resolution on the report passed in Geneva by 25 votes to six
with 11 countries abstaining.
The Goldstone report also accuses Hamas, the Palestinian faction
in control of Gaza, of war crime violations, but it reserved most of
its criticism for Israel.
Israel's three-week offensive on Gaza between last December and
January killed about 1,400 Palestinians, a majority of them women and
children, and 13 Israelis.
Israel said it attacked the coastal territory to stop Hamas fighters firing rockets into southern Israel.
