Cosatu lauds Goldstone report

2009-10-08 16:01

Cape Town - Jurist Richard Goldstone had chosen truth and justice above narrow right-wing chauvinism in his report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Cosatu said on Thursday.

The federation said it fully supported the report, commissioned by the United Nations, on Israel's Operation Cast Lead at the end of last year.

The document has met with angry reaction from many Jews, some of whom have attacked Goldstone as a "self-hating Jew, anti-Israel and anti-Zionist".

The Congress of SA Trade Unions' international relations secretary, Bongani Masuku, said in a statement that Goldstone's only crime had been to agree to lead the UN investigation.

That probe had "exposed the ruthlessness of the war against the people of Gaza by Israel".

"Justice Goldstone has refused to be blackmailed on the basis of his nationality, as a proud South African Jew, but chose the truth and justice above narrow right-wing chauvinism," Masuku said.

"He owes no one any explanation for his courageous stand except justice for the Palestinian people and his conscience."

The report charges both Israeli defence forces and the Palestinian Hamas movement with war crimes and acts that amounted to crimes against humanity.

It calls on the UN Security Council to send the case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

- SAPA