Videos: Hamas’ Use of Civilians as Human Shields
Facts Related to Israel’s Gaza Operation and the Goldstone Commission
Experts for Comment (U.S.-based Israeli Officials, Legal, IDF Reserve Officers)
President Shimon Peres Response to Goldstone Report
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Response to Goldstone Report
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website on the Goldstone Report
LA Times: Goldstone Report Unfair to Israel
Wall Street Journal: UN Smears Israeli Self-Defense as 'War Crimes'

The Goldstone Commission, established by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, released its findings on Israel’s January 2009 defensive operation against Iran-backed Hamas on Sept. 15 [1] 

Israel carried out the 22-day defensive operation to dismantle the infrastructure of Hamas, which has fired more than 10,000 rockets, mortars and missiles at Israel since 2001.[2] The Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and a chief sponsor of Palestinian terrorism, backs Hamas’s terror campaign.

Iran provides Hamas about $30 million to Hamas annually and also trains Hamas operatives in Iran and Syria.[3] The attacks greatly intensified after Israel left all of Gaza in 2005 in hopes of paving the way for an independent, peaceful Palestinian state, instead Hamas turned Gaza into a launching pad for rockets and other weapons used to intentionally target innocent Israelis.

The goal of Israel’s operation was to halt the longtime, unprovoked attacks on its civilians, while trying to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties.[4] Despite these efforts, a number of Palestinian civilians were killed, however international law recognizes that when fighting against military targets, such casualties may occur and are considered violations only when innocent civilians are deliberately targeted.[5] [6]

The principle of distinction in international law holds that all sides in a conflict must distinguish between civilians (and civilian infrastructure) and combatants, while conducting their armed activities. The law also stresses that military operations may only be directed against combatants.[7] The intention of the attack is paramount in discerning any infringement of the laws of war.[8]

Video evidence, eyewitness testimonies and Israeli intelligence reports demonstrate that during the operation, Hamas routinely used its own population as human shields, stored weapons in mosques, used hospitals as command headquarters and overall endangered the civilian Palestinian population of Gaza.[9] Hamas’ actions directly violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states, “The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.”[10]

Videos: Hamas’ Use of Civilians as Human Shields          

Jan. 8, 2009 - Footage of Hamas operatives arming a rocket launcher in a school yard in Gaza.

Jan. 6, 2009 - Footage of a terrorist shooting from a rooftop. The terrorist then identifies an Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft preparing to fire on him and calls a group of children into the house where he is located to prevent the IAF strike. He then flees the house using the children as cover.

Jan. 12, 2009 - Footage of terrorists, one a senior operative, using children and a woman with a baby as human shields. Footage includes IAF radio communications instructing the aircraft operator not to fire on the terrorists because of the woman and children among them.

Dec. 27, 2008 - Footage of a civilian building in which weapons and explosives were being stored. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) telephoned the residents of the building, telling them to leave so they would not be harmed by the planned airstrike. Numerous civilians appear on the rooftop to prevent the airstrike, which the IDF called off as a result.

Videos illustrating:

• Storage of anti-aircraft gun and heavy weapons cache in a local mosque in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza
• Hamas using civilians to carry out military actions
• A mortar launcher located at a Gaza schoolyard
• Weapons found in civilian homes in Gaza
• Humanitarian aid being blockaded and stolen by Hamas before it reaches Gaza
• Mortar shells launched from the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun

Facts Related to Israel’s Gaza Operation and the Goldstone Commission

• Video of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Press Conference, Aug. 11, 2009, on its report "The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects"

• Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The Operation in Gaza - Factual and Legal Aspects

• NGO Monitor: The Goldstone “Fact Finding” Mission and the Role of Political NGOs

• UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict - Public Hearings

Experts for Comment (in Israel unless otherwise indicated)