Controversial U.N. Gaza report is subject of campus forum Nov. 5

A Special Forum: The Challenge of the U.N. Gaza Report 

Video of this event, in its entirety, will be posted on brandeis.edu and BrandeisNOW on Monday, Nov. 9.

Featured speaker: Justice Richard Goldstone, head of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, and chairman of the Advisory Board of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis, and Respondent: Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, will exchange views on the Gaza report’s findings and discuss its assertions that Israel and Palestinian fighters committed war crimes during three weeks of fighting in the Middle East last winter. The report said there is evidence of war crimes on both sides and that the Israelis made disproportionate use of force.
 
This will be the first time that Goldstone and a senior Israeli figure publicly discuss the report, which is the focus of international controversy. Israel and its supporters have charged the report is deeply flawed in mandate and content, and fails to take into account Israel’s security situation. The findings have been endorsed by the U.N. Human Rights Council and many leading Palestinians.
 
The forum is cosponsored by Brandeis’s International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.
 
Free and open to the public; limited seating, with seats on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. The discussion will be streamed live on the Brandeis University Web site, and also will be available on the Web site for later viewing.

Organizers of the forum oare asking students, faculty and members of the public not to bring back packs, large handbags or bulky coats into the auditorium. A large crowd is expected, and leaving these items at home will facilitate seating and make for a more comfortable environment for all.

Members of the audience also are asked to refrain from using cameras and mobile telephones during the forum.

An overflow space in Schwartz Auditorium has been prepared for anyone unable to find seating in Levin Ballroom. The forum will be shown live in that auditorium, and also can be viewed here by those unable to attend the event. From a campus computer, you can also point your browser to go/IPTV, click "Tune In" and then click on the event.

For people coming from off campus, the closest parking lot to the venue is the Tower Lot, on the right side of peripheral road. If that lot fills, additional parking is available along the road toward the Chapels area and in the Theater Lot (click here for a campus map).

Click here to read the report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

Click here to read the official Israeli response.

Click here to read the Ethics Center's “Ethical Inquiry” research on proportionality.