...Israel is not perfect. As much as we as a society try to uphold the IDF's ethical code, mistakes sometimes happen and deviations from procedure occur. Whether we like it or not, Israel is one of the most scrutinized countries in the world. And when we are told that things may not be right, we check it out and, when necessary, prosecute those involved. We are now pursuing two dozen criminal investigations regarding events that occurred in Gaza. We don't need the Human Rights Council, Richard Goldstone, or anyone else to teach us how to maintain the democratic principles which are our lifeblood.

As sobering as the thought may be, terrorists will welcome this report. It has made their work much easier, and the work of their potential victims more difficult.

I believe that the time has come for us to put an end to this calculated erosion of common sense. The nations that share democratic values must not allow themselves to be handcuffed by the abusive application of lofty ideals. Democracies should be concentrating on defending themselves from extremism--not from accusations by kangaroo courts.

The Goldstone Report pretends to investigate whether Hamas used Gazans as human shields. As it does so, it bends over backwards to give the impression that Hamas is innocent even as the evidence it brings shows the opposite...

The Goldstone commission has been dealt another blow to its already tattered reputation.

Jonathan Halevi, who recently detailed how over 90 percent of the Gazan policemen killed in the initial Israeli strike were members of Palestinian terror groups, has now published a report that provides the names and personal details of Hamas operatives and affiliated terrorists killed in each of four highly publicized incidents in which the Goldstone report alleges Israel targeted Palestinian civilians. Halevi's report deals with the strike on the Ibrahim al-Maqadma mosque, the shelling of the al-Fakhura UN school, the attack on the al-Sammouni home and the killing of Khaled Abd Rabbo's daughters...

IN APRIL 2000, while serving as a US delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (now called the Human Rights Council), I was asked to visit the ambassador of a Middle Eastern country in order to lobby his government on behalf of the United States.

The issue was the Chinese government's violation of international human rights standards. The Chinese government was aggressively moving to prevent discussion of its human rights record before the Commission. My mission was to urge the ambassador of this moderate Arab state to vote against the Chinese resolution to stifle discussion or abstain from voting on it.

The ambassador looked at me with a blend of affection and pity. "I don't think you understand,'' he said. The Chinese government had sent emissaries to his capital six months earlier with a basket of lucrative contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to his government, on the specific condition that it vote to block any discussion of human rights violations in China. The die had been cast, long before the ambassador's vote...