'Goldstone says he'll work to nullify report in UN'
Jurist accepts Yishai's invitation to visit rocket-battered South; won't take steps against report until "dust settles"; Army Radio reports.
By JPOST.COM STAFFGoldstone 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
Author of the Goldstone Report, Judge Richard Goldstone, promised to work to nullify the contested report and has accepted an invitation to visit Israel, Army Radio reported on Tuesday.The invitation was extended in a phone call Monday by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, in order to visit Israel's southern communities that have endured years of sustained rocket fire from Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.RELATED:British gov't opposes call to retract Goldstone ReportUS backs Goldstone: Israel didn't commit war crimesAccording to Yishai, Goldstone said that he would be happy to come and that there will always be love in his heart for the State of Israel.The interior minister added that Goldstone, “as a Jew understands well the story of the Jewish people’s suffering ... and it is very important for him to come and see this," according to AP.Additionally, Yishai said that Goldstone made a promise to work towards retracting his UN report. Former ambassador to the UN Danny Gillerman, who also spoke with Goldstone, added that the judge would not act immediately to do so.He wants to "wait for the dust to settle" in the aftermath of an op-ed he penned in the Washington Post last week, in which he wrote that Israel, contrary to his famed UN report, did not target civilians in Operation Cast Lead as a matter of policy, AP reported.UNHRC spokesman Cedric Sapey told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that in order for the body to reconsider the report, that the judge would first need to write a formal letter to that effect. In the op-ed, Goldstone wrote that if he had the information available today when he had written the original Goldstone Report, that it would be an entirely different document.
