Comments on: House to Vote on Resolution to Reject Goldstone Report http://waronyou.com/topics/house-to-vote-on-resolution-to-reject-goldstone-report/ War on you (mind, body and soul) Breaking Alternative News without Bias corporate Views Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:48:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Awamori http://waronyou.com/topics/house-to-vote-on-resolution-to-reject-goldstone-report/comment-page-1/#comment-13303 Awamori Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:22:30 +0000 http://waronyou.com/?p=4442#comment-13303 When Goldstone decided to hold public, televised hearings (Goldstone, 22), he made a travesty of the entire "fact finding" mission. Witnesses who had information hurtful to Hamas, and who might have felt inclined to be honest if interviewed a secure and confidential setting, were forced to choose between publicly: a. telling the truth and risking their own lives/health and those of their families, or b. lying or omitting information hurtful to Hamas or helpful to Israel. The purpose of a fact-finding mission is *not* to broadcast raw testimony without verification; rather, it is to determine the facts based on all sources available, including *confidential* sources, and then to report on the facts as uncovered. Its procedures must be designed to encourage truthful testimony, not to facilitate intimidation of witnesses. Gaza is a totalitarian statelet ruled by Hamas, an organization that seized absolute power in a violent coup in 2007. Within Gaza, Hamas armed fighters and security teams operate with an iron fist, and their tactics are consistent and violent. Many Ordinary Gazans are intimidated. So... . Goldstone made witnesses testify *in public*. He placed honest witnesses in potentially mortal danger, and he made it easy for dishonest witnesses to succumb to their dishonesty. When Goldstone decided to hold public, televised hearings (Goldstone, 22), he made a travesty of the entire “fact finding” mission. Witnesses who had information hurtful to Hamas, and who might have felt inclined to be honest if interviewed a secure and confidential setting, were forced to choose between publicly:

a. telling the truth and risking their own lives/health and those of their families, or

b. lying or omitting information hurtful to Hamas or helpful to Israel.

The purpose of a fact-finding mission is *not* to broadcast raw testimony without verification; rather, it is to determine the facts based on all sources available, including *confidential* sources, and then to report on the facts as uncovered. Its procedures must be designed to encourage truthful testimony, not to facilitate intimidation of witnesses.

Gaza is a totalitarian statelet ruled by Hamas, an organization that seized absolute power in a violent coup in 2007. Within Gaza, Hamas armed fighters and security teams operate with an iron fist, and their tactics are consistent and violent. Many Ordinary Gazans are intimidated.
So… . Goldstone made witnesses testify *in public*. He placed honest witnesses in potentially mortal danger, and he made it easy for dishonest witnesses to succumb to their dishonesty.

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