Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warns if the findings of the United Nations Goldstone Commission report are taken to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to charge Israel with war crimes, it will deliver a fatal blow to regional peace-making efforts.

Speaking to Asian diplomats on Wednesday, the prime minister went on to explain that a democratic nation has a right to defend its citizens, and that is what Operation Cast Lead was about. He added the citizens of Israel yearn for peace, but are unwilling to take too much of a risk, and if the feeling is that we may not defend ourselves, including against loathsome terrorists who hide in civilian population centers, then the peace-making efforts will lose current support.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday denied a report appearing in the daily Yediot Achronot, stating a state board of inquiry headed by a retired senior justice would probe the allegations cited in the Goldstone report. The defense minister stated the report is simply not true, and he and the prime minister are not entertaining any such move.

In a related matter, Goldstone told CNN that while Israeli did not intentionally target civilians, the army did intentionally target civilian structures. He stated he would welcome an internal Israeli probe into the allegations, responding to denials issued by Minister Barak.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)