President Shimon Peres on Sunday charged that the Goldstone Report constituted a “blood libel” against the Jewish people.
“No one has been libeled as much as the Jewish people,” Peres asserted, implying that the offense of libel of this kind was much graver when a Jew was responsible for it.
RELATED:Comment: Goldstone the belated penitentNetanyahu: Throw Goldstone Report into dustbin of historyLivni: Cast Lead was justified with or without GoldstonePeres insisted that Richard Goldstone, who headed the UN fact-finding mission on the alleged abuse of human rights by Israeli soldiers, must make amends both as a human being and as a judge for the grievous harm that he has caused to Israel’s image in the world.
The IDF, which was portrayed in an extremely negative light in the report, is one of the most moral armies in the world, Peres declared. He added that the IDF’s operations in Gaza were not for the purpose of killing, but for the defense of Israel against the missiles that were fired with such frequency at Israeli civilian targets.
Peres expressed tremendous pride in the IDF, which he said is a humane army that fights against terror under the most difficult of conditions.