The Goldstone Report: Challenging Israeli Impunity in the International Legal System?

Abstract

The legitimacy of Israel’s practices during “Operation Cast Lead,” the 22-day military offensive in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, has recently been called into question by the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, sparking an international controversy of immense proportion. The purpose of this article is to understand why there has been such attention given to the report, more commonly referred to as the Goldstone Report after Justice Richard Goldstone who headed the investigation, and to analyze its implications for Israeli accountability in the international legal system. We trace Israel’s reaction to the report’s release and the international attention it drew, and suggest that the brutal attempts to discredit the Goldstone Report, and even Justice Goldstone himself, highlight the tremendous fear that Israeli impunity may be coming to an end. In looking at the current state of affairs in the international legal system, we explore the potential for prosecutions by the International Criminal Court and recent developments in universal jurisdiction. We conclude by suggesting that the Goldstone Report’s significance in mounting a successful challenge to Israeli impunity, lies not in tangible effects, but in helping to shift the tide of the ‘legitimacy war’ to the Palestinian side.