Israel has almost completed a rebuttal to the Goldstone report which criticizes Tel Aviv for committing war crimes in its last year war on the Gaza Strip.
According to a report published by The New York Times, the rebuttal which, according to Israeli, includes "photographic proof" that contradicts war crime charges, aims to dispel the harsh report of grave violation of international and humanitarian law in Gaza.
The rebuttal which will be given to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the coming weeks was put together by Israel’s National Security Council, the Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, and the military prosecutor.
The UN report led by former South African judge, Richard Goldstone concluded last September that Israel carried out "deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects" in January-December war on Gaza.
The 575-page UN-ordered report asserts seven incidents in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags.
The report also accused Hamas of infringing international conventions.
In November 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that accuses Israel of war crimes and criminal acts against humanity during the weeks-long onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
A hundred fourteen states endorsed the resolution while only 18 states including the US and Israel objected to the report’s adoption. Forty-four countries also abstained including France, Britain and Russia.
Israel however dismissed the UN report as "one-sided."
"We ourselves set up investigations into 140 complaints," said Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, the Israeli military advocate general.
"It is when you read these other reports and complaints that you realize how truly vicious the Goldstone report is," he added.
Some details revealed to the Times shows the rebuttal includes some photos of Gaza’s sole flour mill destructed during the war. According to the Goldstone report, the Bader flour mill "was hit by an airstrike, possibly by an F-16."
Israel however dismisses the report and says it has "photographic proof" that the mill was accidentally hit by artillery in the course of a firefight with Hamas fighters.
The second case concerned the destruction of a wastewater plant which the UN report contended that was hit by a "deliberate and premeditated" powerful Israeli missile strike. The Israelis however accuse Hamas of destroying the infrastructure.
(Press TV)
