"In the Prime Minister's smug and self-satisfied speech there was not a single word of apology for the serious blunder to which Mr. Netanyahu is personally responsible: his decision not to cooperate with the Goldstone Commission, which resulted in the report being published as it was published, causing severe political damage to the State of Israel" -says former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom activist.

"It seems that Mr. Netanyahu did not bother to read to the end the article published by Judge Goldstone, which made clear the damage caused to Israel by the Netanyahu Government's decision not to provide information to the commission. The clear lesson is for the government stop regarding Israeli and international Human Rights organizations as an enemy to be fought and against which ever-new legislation should be introduced. On the contrary, the reports and concerns of such organizations should be treated seriously, not only with regard to criticism of past actions but also and especially when planning the [resent and future operations of the country's armed forces."

Avnery added that also now the State of Israel has no reason to be proud of its actions in Gaza, two years ago. "During three weeks the soldiers of the IDF killed 1300 Palestinians, a large part of them unarmed civilians, including hundreds of children. Even if it was not done t on purpose, a country bears full responsibility for the actions of the soldiers it had sent to war. It is shameful to see the Prime Minister, when talking about that war, mumbling again the hollow mantra of 'the most moral army in the world'. "

Contact: Adam Keller 054-2340749