GOLDSTONE ADMITS TO GRAVE MISTAKES. OR SO IT SEEMS

The South African pro-apartheid judge who conducted a biased report against Israel is now belatedly admitting he made mistakes, but not that he lied and conducted a deliberately biased, alleged investigation:

The head of a U.N.-appointed expert panel that investigated the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas in the winter of 2008-2009 said in a newspaper article that new accounts by Israel's military indicate that it did not deliberately target civilians, his report's central and most inflammatory accusation.

Israel's prime minister said the military was vindicated by Richard Goldstone's acknowledgment in an op-ed piece published Friday by The Washington Post that his conclusion appeared to have been wrong. The Goldstone Report's findings, released in September 2009, triggered outrage in Israel, which refused to cooperate with the investigation on the grounds that the panel he led was biased.

"We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war," Goldstone wrote. "If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document."

But he did know, he's just not willing to admit he's a bigoted, pro-jihad lunatic.

In Friday's article, the South African judge wrote that a follow-up report by a separate U.N. committee of independent experts found that Israel has carried out investigations into more than 400 allegations of misconduct in Gaza.

Those investigations, he said, indicate that "civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy," though they backed the validity of some cases involving individual soldiers. Hamas, by contrast, has not carried out any investigations, according to the follow-up committee.

In the article, Goldstone regretted the loss of civilian life in Gaza, even if it was not intentional. He also said "it goes without saying" that Hamas commits war crimes by aiming rockets at civilians and continues to do so.

Is this supposed to mean he's having a change of heart and regretting his older ways? I wouldn't bet on it. He could go right back to his old habits at the drop of a hat.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Goldstone Report should be formally nullified.

"Everything we said has been proven to be true," Netanyahu said. "Israel does not purposely target civilians and its investigative institutions are competent, while Hamas intentionally fires at innocent civilians and doesn't investigate anything."

"The fact that Goldstone has backtracked means the report should be buried once and for all."

You can say that again. But why do I get the feeling they won't do it? They're practically run by Islamic entities now, who could decide otherwise. Goldstone has done severe damage that'll take centuries to repair. He should be shunned and ostracized by sane society for the vicious blood libels he's committed.

Update: Joel Pollak sums it up correctly about the repulsive Goldstone.