US Urges Israel to Investigate ‘Credible Allegations’
30 September 2009 12:00 pm by Taylor Marsh
Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, released a statement saying the United States took the mission’s allegations seriously and encouraged Israel to use “meaningful” efforts to investigate “credible allegations.” However, he also described the report as “deeply flawed,” and said it failed to deal adequately with the asymmetrical nature of the conflict. – New York Times
Yesterday, Mr. Posner, trying to cover all of the bases while also calling Israel out, came out to encourage Israel to take the Goldstone report seriously. This came at the same time that Mr. Goldstone reiterated that, “A culture of impunity in the region has existed far too long.” Defending himself, he didn’t let up on Israel saying, “the response to date of the Government of Israel avoids dealing with the substance of the report.”
On another note, this afternoon, I’ll be meeting and listening to current Israeli Labor party MK Ophir Pines-Paz. (I’ll tweet the meeting.) It should be very interesting. The discussion will include how the Israeli opposition is reacting to Pres. Obama’s initiatives, as well as Netanyahu’s governing dynamics, which coming after last week’s trilateral theater (my words) could be interesting. The position of Pines-Pas amidst all of this makes the closed meeting important. Blurb on Pines-Paz from the invite: As a kind of leader of the dissident rebels within the Labor party in the current governing coalition, Pines-Paz is not only well-placed to take stock of the disunity within Israel’s center-left, but also has a great insider’s knowledge of what’s going on with broader political developments.
In other dramatic news, Israel will release 20 Palestinian women from jail in exchange for a proof of life video showing Cpl. Gilad Shalit is still alive.
