Israel strives to change int'l law of war following Goldstone report
[http://www.chinaview.cn] 2009-10-21 03:49:48
JERUSALEM, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday tasked his government to try to change the international law of war, as his country stiffens its response to a damning UN report on its winter offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Following his instruction, a number of Israeli government bodies are expect to embark upon a public relations initiative on the international stage to adapt the law of war to "the spread of terrorism throughout the world," according to a statement from the Government Press Office.

Netanyahu ordered the move during a special cabinet meeting, where top Israeli officials discussed the implications of the Gaza report, compiled by a UN fact-finding mission led by respectable South African jurist Richard Goldstone.

The 575-page document, endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council last week, accused both Israel and the Gaza-controlling Islamic Hamas movement of war crimes. Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the operation in last winter.

Denouncing the report as biased, the Jewish state insisted that it launched the three-week massive offensive in response to eight years of continuous rockets fired from Gaza.

"I want to make it clear to everyone: no one can undermine our ability and right to defend our children, our citizens and our communities," Netanyahu said at the meeting, while vowing to continue to debunk the false allegations that are "spreading with the help of the Goldstone report."

"Our challenge is to delegitimize the continuous attempt to delegalize the State of Israel. The most important arena where we need to act in this context is the arena of public opinion," he said.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu also instructed the Justice Ministry to establish a unit to handle legal proceedings in foreign countries against Israel or its citizens. Pro-Palestinian groups have been trying to put certain Israeli officials and military officers on trial in Britain and some other countries that recognize universal jurisdiction.

Considering ancient Israel, which some seem to think should be replicated again in modern Israel, began its warring with the unprovoked invasion of Canaan eons ago with a self-justified bloody policy of genocide, who knows where they are headed?