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Investigator and former Israeli diplomat take on Gaza War report in debate at US Jewish university
The United Nations General Assembly last week approved the Goldstone report, which alleges that both the IDF and Hamas committed war crimes in Gaza, but the debate over the report started up again almost immediately at Brandeis University, where jurist Richard Goldstone and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold, argued over whether the report was fair to Israel. It was the first public confrontation between Goldstone and a former representative of the Israeli government, and hundreds of students, professors, and community members packed a Brandeis auditorium, the Boston Globe reported.
Goldstone argued that Israel was entitled, under international law, to defend its citizens against Hamas rocket fire, Ynet reports. But, he said, “the strategy adopted by the Defense Ministry”—which involved attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure—“is against international law….
Why did they have to bomb the mosque? Why did they have to bomb the American school? Why did they have to attack the [United Nations] compound?” Gold countered that civilians and their infrastructure were not intentionally targeted; rather, he said, because Hamas infiltrates the civilian population, attacks on that population were not disproportionate. “There’s no question there was enormous damage in Gaza,” he said, according to the Globe. “But why doesn’t Hamas appear as a responsible party for what happened? Who booby-trapped the buildings in Gaza? Who launched an eight-year war against Israel?”
The crowd was respectful, clapping for both debaters, the Globe said, and laughter broke out when Goldstone recalled the nightmares he had before entering Gaza to conduct the report, in which “Hamas would kidnap me, and the Israelis would rejoice.”
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Characterized by academic excellence since its founding in 1948, Brandeis is one of the youngest private research universities, as well as the only nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored college or university in the [US].
Named for the late Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court, Brandeis University combines the faculty and resources of a world-class research institution with the intimacy and personal attention of a small liberal arts college.
For students, that means unsurpassed access--both in and out of the classroom--to a faculty renowned for groundbreaking research, scholarship, and artistic output. At Brandeis, professors bring newly-minted knowledge straight from the field or lab to the graduate and undergraduate classrooms.
Brandeis supports an innovative and exciting program of learning that emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge and the solution of real-life problems. Undergraduates, from the very first year, enjoy leadership positions and research opportunities typically available only to upperclass and graduate students.
Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, on 235 attractive suburban acres, Brandeis is in an ideal location just nine miles west of Boston.
Brandeis is ranked in the top tier of the nation's universities. Our graduates depart to pursue careers in a wide array of fields, and advanced studies in the nation's leading graduate and professional schools.
Brandeis was independently ranked 234 in the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings in their highly respected annual survey for 2009
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