Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday told his cabinet that the UN stood poised to destroy the foundations of the Middle East peace process by denying Israel its right to self-defense.
Netanyahu was speaking just hours before the UN Human Rights Council was to vote on whether or not to endorse and forward to the General Assembly the Goldstone Commission report, which accused Israel of committing blatant war crimes in its recent invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Nearly all of the conclusions reached by the Goldstone Commission were based on unconfirmed claims by Palestinians and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
Endorsing and forwarding the Goldstone Commission report to the General Assembly would "strike a fatal blow to the peace process... Because Israel will no longer be able to take additional steps and take risks for peace if its right to self-defense is denied," said Netanyahu.
It was earlier reported that Netanyahu planned to comply with the Goldstone Commission's demand that Israel carry out its own commission of inquiry into the alleged war crimes as a means of avoiding international prosecution. But after a series of meetings on Wednesday, Netanyahu nixed that idea and decided that painting the Goldstone Commission as detrimental to Israel's continued participation in the peace process was a better approach.