By ABE SELIG, JPOST.COM STAFF
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert spoke out against the Goldstone Commission's report on Thursday, during a ceremony unveiling a 9/11 memorial erected in the Arazim Valley in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood.
"States fighting terror hurt uninvolved citizens from time to time but this is neither their goal nor their desire," Army Radio quoted Olmert as saying.
The former prime minister asserted that the Goldstone Report was part of an attack from a hypocritical and self-righteous organization. "This report needs to be seen in perspective and the war on terror must continue," he said.
Commissioned and built by the Jewish National Fund-USA, the memorial depicts the World Trade Center and Pentagon through sculpture and landscape architecture.
Designed by award-winning Israeli artist Eliezer Weishoff, the memorial includes a 30-foot high bronze sculpture donated by Edward Blank, and is composed of a waving American flag transformed into a memorial flame.
"Set against the magnificent backdrop of Jerusalem, the Living Memorial will be a moving site from which to mourn the victims of 9/11 as well as consider the thousands of victims of terrorism worldwide," Russell F. Robinson, chief executive officer of JNF told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
"Jerusalem is a battleground of civilization but also a place of hope," added Robinson. "The memorial is situated in Jerusalem's green belt - what better place to show that civilization won?"
Earlier on Thursday, President Shimon Peres called Goldstone a "lowly man" with no sense of justice while on an official visit to Brazil, according to an Israel Radio report.