The security cabinet on Tuesday did not discuss the matter of establishing an independent inquiry into Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter, at the request of Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak opposes an Israeli probe into the offensive as a response to the Goldstone Commission's report.
Goldstone in Gaza.
During the meeting, the security cabinet discussed different ways to deal with the report. Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz gave the cabinet a number of options, including putting together a commission of inquiry.
The Foreign Ministry suggested a 'hasbara' campaign to combat the report, which accuses Israel of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
Prior to the meeting, which was the high-level Israeli meeting on the Goldstone report, AP quoted an aide to Binyamin Netanyahu aide as saying that the prime minister had not yet decided whether a commission of inquiry should be formed.
Those inside the government advocating an independent inquiry into the Gaza offensive have argued that this would be one way to remove the threat of Israel being hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, since the International Criminal Court does not take up cases where credible and independent investigations are being conducted by the countries involved.
The Goldstone Report and its ramifications are also expected to be high on the agenda during talks that Netanyahu will be holding in the coming days with leaders attending President Shimon Peres's 'Facing Tomorrow' conference, which opens in the capital on Tuesday evening.
Among those he is expected to meet are US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Quartet envoy Tony Blair.
The Prime Minister's Office on Monday would not divulge the nature of Netanyahu's response to a joint letter sent on Friday by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urging the premier, among other things, to set up an independent inquiry into Operation Cast Lead.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Tuesday criticized the UN Human Rights Council for its endorsement of the Goldstone Commission's report, calling the council "a crooked body that acts in crooked way, mainly against the State of Israel."
"I backed Operation Cast Lead, it was right and restored Israel's deterrence, and I have full faith in the IDF troops" she said in Israeli radio interviews. "[Kadima's] position was that we must act in every possible place and counter the unacceptable comparison between IDF soldiers and terrorists."
She said the report's endorsement was not a measure against Israel only.
Front Page Features