ISRAEL has responded to the UN endorsement of the Goldstone report with pressure on countries which supported the report and claims of anti-Semitism.
Anger grew among Israeli politicians and media outlets yesterday led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who targeted two of the countries which voted to endorse the report, China and Russia.
Mr Lieberman boycotted a function he was due to attend as a guest of the Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv, while his deputy Danny Ayalon cast doubt on a Russian initiative to host a Middle East conference.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said it "to a certain degree anti-Semitic to say that what is permitted for the US in Afghanistan, for Russia in Chechnya and also for Turkey in northern Iraq is forbidden for Israel in defending itself from Gaza".
"We will not co-operate with this," Mr Steinitz said. "Jews will not again be led like lambs to slaughter."
The sentiment was reflected in much of the Israel media with one paper, Israel Hayom, running an article headlined A Typhoon of anti-Semitism.
The article, by Dan Margalit,
attacked the author of the UN report, South African judge Richard Goldstone, as an "assimilated and gentile-grovelling Jew", "a retrospective collaborator with the Arab bloc" and "a deceived collaborator".
Nonetheless, Margalit went on to urge Israel "as a matter of urgency" to reach an agreement with the US regarding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and with Britain and France over establishing an independent internal investigation into Gaza.
But amid the attacks on Goldstone (one paper recently referred to him as "the criminal") came a growing counter-opinion that perhaps Israel may have made mistakes in its approach to the Goldstone report, which looked into allegations of war crimes against Israel and Hamas after the January war.
Israel decided from the outset not to co-operate with the inquiry, claiming it was always going to be anti-Israel, but some commentators are now suggesting Israel should have opened itself to questions.
Yesterday Kadima MP Nachman Shai said Israel had to make "a brave decision" to establish its own judicial investigation.
So far Israel has only agreed to military investigations, and doubts have been expressed about the credibility of the military investigating itself.
"The time has come to put an end to the government's misgivings concerning the Goldstone report and to conduct a judicial inquiry into Operation Cast Lead (Gaza war)," Mr Shai said.
"As time goes on, it is becoming clearer that this is the only way to save Israel from the dead end into which the government has forced us and that disrupts Israel's foreign affairs."
Israel is also trying to save its souring relationship with Turkey, which has been one of its few regional allies. Last week Turkey refused to proceed with a joint military exercise. Prime Minister Recep Ergodan said yesterday Turkey had "never been on the side of the tyrants".
Israel accuses report's UN backers of anti-Semitism | The Australian
