The attacks against Judge Goldstone’s report on the Gaza war fall into three categories: personal attacks against him, attacks on the accuracy and veracity of the findings and attacks against the UN body that commissioned the report. In this recent interview with Bill Moyers, Judge Goldstone responds to all these attacks and others as well. The more I hear him speak, the more impressed I am with the man’s intelligence, integrity and moral courage:
…it’s been my experience in the countries in which I’ve been involved and many in which I haven’t been involved, that in the aftermath of serious human rights violations, you cannot get enduring peace if you leave rancor and calls for revenge in the victim population. What victims need is acknowledgement. They need official acknowledgement of their victimization. And whether that’s done by Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, as we did in South Africa, or through domestic prosecutions or international prosecutions, that official truth-telling is an essential building brick to lasting peace.
Tags: Human Rights, War Crimes