Anti-Semitic graffiti. Photo: AJN file

LONDON — Israel’s Gaza operation in December 2008 spurred a record number of anti-Semitic attacks in Britain during the past year.

The organisation recording anti-Semitic incidents, the Community Security Trust, reported an increase in incidents of 55 per cent from the previous year.

The 924 incidents were the most since records have been kept, according to reports.

The main rise in attacks was recorded in January and February, during and after Israel’s military action in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

According to the CST annual report, the 628 incidents in the first six months of 2009 were more than in any entire previous year. There were 296 incidents from July to December.

CST spokesman Mark Gardner said: “These record figures show that anti-Semitism is an increasingly significant problem for British Jews.
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Israeli soldiers prepare to enter Gaza in January 2009. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — Israel has prepared a response to the Goldstone report, which accused it of committing war crimes during the Gaza war.

The response, expected to be handed over to the United Nations later this week, reportedly will include photographic evidence that contradicts Richard Goldstone’s war crimes charges against Israel.

The United Nations-commissioned Goldstone report, issued in September 2009, gave Israel six months to investigate its alleged crimes before turning the matter over to international courts.

Some of the findings that reportedly refute the Goldstone report include evidence that the one Gaza flour mill was not deliberately attacked by Israel, but that it was hit by Hamas, The New York Times reported on January 23.

In addition, a sewage plant that was said to be deliberately targeted by Israel was hit mistakenly during an exchange of fire with Hamas.

Israel’s response was put together by the National Security Council, the Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Israel Defence Forces prosecutor. Hamas also is reportedly working on a response.
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IDF forces during ground maneouvres in Gaza. Photo: AJN file

GIDI GRINSTEIN

JERUSALEM — A year on from Operation Cast Lead, one thing is increasingly clear: together with the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the two military operations exposed a dire need to reform Israel’s security and foreign policy doctrine.

The borders of Gaza and Lebanon may be quiet, but a fierce global battle for our basic legitimacy is raging.

Many Israelis are frustrated. Within three years, we failed to achieve a decisive success in recent confrontations with Hezbollah and Hamas in spite of overwhelming military, technological and economic superiority.

In 2006, we were dragged through 33 days of an exchange that left a relatively high number of casualties, 133, as well as a trauma to Israeli society that will take years to heal. In the 2009 Cast Lead operation, our military power was unmatched, yet it was offset by the offensive on Israel’s international legitimacy that led to a significant setback in our standing among the family of nations and would constrain Israeli military planning and operations more effectively than any Arab military deterrence. This is a score card Israel finds hard to accept.
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Clock ticking for Zentai

BARRING a successful final appeal against a ruling by Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor, Charles Zentai may soon be on a flight to Budapest to face charges over a war crime he allegedly committed 65 years ago.

After the ministerial decision to make him eligible for extradition, the Perth octogenarian is almost certain to face a Hungarian court over a 1944 murder. If that happens, he will be the first Australian resident extradited for war crimes.
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CARTOONIST Kron comments on the United Nations report by Richard Goldstone into the Gaza war of December 2008.

RONI SOFER

JERUSALEM - The Israeli Cabinet was set to convene Tuesday morning in order to debate the international battle waged by Israel against the reverberations of the Goldstone Commission Report, which claims Israel committed war crimes in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet announced whether he will order the establishment of an inquiry committee on Operation Cast Lead. Meanwhile Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi have expressed their objection to such a move while the Justice Ministry said it may lend its support.
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Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. Photo: AJN file

AHRON SHAPIRO

THE United Nations’ Goldstone Commission Report on the Gaza war used information that was gathered in a manner of a “Stalinist show trial”, according to Mark Regev, the Australian-born spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Speaking to The AJN during a visit to Melbourne last week, Regev said the Goldstone Report was a blatantly biased document that was “born in sin”.

Regev outlined the challenges facing the Netanyahu government in both foreign and domestic affairs.

On the issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Regev declined to comment whether Netanyahu had a specific red line in Iran’s nuclear program that would require Israel to take action, instead emphasising that Israel hoped the current diplomatic process would bear fruit.

“If we see a diplomatic process that works, no-one will be more thankful than Israel and, of course, our Arab neighbours,” he said.
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Avigdor Lieberman. Photo: AJN file

DANIEL EDELSON

ANKARA - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman summoned the acting Turkish ambassador to Israel to a meeting with high-ranking Foreign Ministry officials in order to protest against a television show which depicted Israeli solders as a murderous, bloodthirsty army.

The show, which debuted in Turkey recently may provide a partial answer to the recent spike in anti-Israeli sentiment evident in the country.
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Israeli soldiers prepare to enter Gaza in January 2009. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — The UN Human Rights Council will reopen the debate on the Goldstone report in a special session.

The debate in Geneva is set for Thursday, the day after the UN Security Council in New York is scheduled to discuss the report.

Eighteen of 47 Human Rights Council member states approved a motion to hold the special session, the sixth time the council has singled out Israel in a special session in its three-year existence, the Associated Press reported.

The debate is expected to last into Friday and include discussion of the recent violence in Jerusalem.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his support for reopening the debate on the report in a weekend telephone call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the French news agency AFP reported on Tuesday, quoting Ban’s spokeswoman.
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Richard Goldstone (UN Photo)

WASHINGTON - The United Nations Security Council will meet to discuss a request for an emergency session on the Goldstone Commission report.
The meeting next Wednesday comes at the request of Libya, the lone Arab member of the 15-nation council, according to reports.

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