Professor William A. Schabas has posted an article on his blog: “Richard Goldstone did not Retract the Report”
Schabas was a member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He is a prolific author and has written many of the standard reference works employed in the field of international law, including books and articles dealing with criminal law and the International Criminal Court.
He re-examined the Goldstone report after the publication of the Washington Post editorial and explains that the primary allegations in the report were not retracted. Schabas notes that intentional targeting of civilians only consisted of one heading among thirteen dealing with violations of international law perpetrated by Israel. He says that even if that finding had been retracted it would not alter the core findings that the attacks on the civilian infrastructure and the objective of Cast Lead, were undertaken to deliberately punish the civilian population. The infrastructure that was destroyed was not attacked because those objects presented a military threat or opportunity, but rather because their destruction would make the daily process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population.
He concludes that the real issue, and the real reason why there was such outrage about Cast Lead, is that Israel is still violently oppressing the Palestinians after more than sixty years and denying them the right to self-determination.
The author of this post is a regular commenter at this site who asks to remain anonymous.
