Facing mounting international pressure for an investigation into charges of war crimes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his government on Tuesday to find ways of changing the world’s laws that govern warfare.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the professional bodies within the relevant government ministries to examine the facilitating of an international initiative to change the laws of war in keeping with the spread of terrorism throughout the world,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
"Our challenge is to delegitimize the continuous attempt to delegitimize the State of Israel,” Netanyahu told members of his cabinet, according to the statement.
“The most important arena where we need to act in this context is in the arena of public opinion, which is crucial in the democratic world. We must continue to debunk this lie that is spreading with the help of the Goldstone report," he was quoted as saying, referring to the UN-mandated international fact-finding mission led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone.
Goldstone’s four-person team visited Gaza twice this year, and compiled a 575-page report based on hundreds of individual testimonies and thousands of documents. The report accuses both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes during Israel’s three-week assault against Gaza last December and January. Last Friday the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva voted to endorse the report and refer the document to the UN bodies in New York.
In addition, Netanyahu’s diplomatic-security cabinet agreed to establish a special unit to handle legal proceedings overseas against Israeli officials.
According to human rights groups, Israeli forces killed more than 1,400 Palestinians during the three-week offensive, the majority of them civilians.
The Israeli cabinet also ruled out the possibility of establishing a domestic inquiry into the war crimes charges, reportedly at the behest of Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak is the only prominent cabinet minister who was in power during the Gaza war who is now serving in the current government.
Goldstone’s report calls on Israeli and Palestinian authorities to investigate the war crimes claims. If they fail to do so, the issue could be referred to the International Criminal Court, or a special tribunal.
Later on Tuesday Netanyahu on Tuesday called on President Mahmoud Abbas to renew peace negotiations, which were suspended when Israel launched the war on Gaza.
Speaking at the opening of the Presidential Conference in West Jerusalem, Netanyahu urged Abbas to tell Palestinians: "The time has come to end this conflict; tell them that the time has come for two nations to live side-by-side in peace and security."
"I believe that peace with the Palestinians is possible, but that requires brave leadership on both sides," he said, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
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