MEP: Europe and the international community should re-establish the truth regarding the Goldstone Report

"Israel's reputation should be restored and, as a consequence, EU-Israeli bilateral relations should be upgraded."

BRUSSELS (EJP)---Italian MEP Firorello Provera thinks that the EU should call for the Goldstone Report on the Gaza war to be rectified after his author retracted the conclusions on Israel.

In response to a question from EJP, Provera, who is Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he was "astonished" by Goldstone’s remarks in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

"Either the report was conducted without the appropriate information and research on the ground, or it was targeted to depict an unrealistic situation for political purposes. In both cases, the report put Israel in a very difficult position in the eyes of the international community," the MEP from the Europe of freedom and democracy group, said.

"The priority for the European Union and the international community should be to re-establish the truth and clarify the responsibilities of all those involved in drafting the report," he added.

He said that "Israel's reputation should be restored and, as a consequence, EU-Israeli bilateral relations should be upgraded."


"I always keep in mind that Israel is the only true democracy in the region, and we share common values as well as, unfortunately, the same threat from fundamentalists."