South African jurist Richard Goldstone, who led a damning United Nations probe into Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter, has challenged Barack Obama's administration to justify its claims that the report is one-sided and flawed.
Goldstone's report, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes in the Gaza offensive. Israel has rejected the report as biased and the U.S. has said it would support Israel's efforts to prevent a UN Security Council debate on the report.
Goldstone told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he is still waiting for the U.S. to clarify its claim that the report has a number of flaws.
"The Obama administration joined our recommendation calling for full and good-faith investigations, both in Israel and in Gaza, but said that the report was flawed," Goldstone told Al Jazeera.
The commission chair said that once Washington points out the flaws, he would be ready to respond. "I have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the flaws in the report that they have identified are. I would be happy to respond to them, if and when I know what they are," he said.
The remarks follow a U.S. opposition to a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the report in Geneva last Friday.
Russia and China are also among those who voted against a discussion of the Goldstone probe in the Security Council. The report passed by 25 votes to six, 11 countries abstained, and five countries did not vote, among them Britain and France.
Meanwhile, a recent poll shows that more than two-thirds of the Israeli public opposes an Israeli inquiry panel into the events of Operation Cast Lead.
The poll, Geocartography Institute directed by Professor Avi Degani, shows that only 32 percent of those questioned supported the idea of an investigative committee on the Goldstone report.
On Wednesday night, 30 Sderot residents arrived at the UN offices in Jerusalem to personally pass on a petition opposing the Goldstone report, signed by 100 thousand people from around the world.
The Sderot residents stood outside the UN offices holding signs saying "Goldstone apologize" and "We're sick of anti-Semites".