From Israel's point of view, the UN report accusing its military of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity during its invasion last winter of the Gaza Strip might be subtitled "The Report That Won't Go Away".
After the release of the Goldstone report in September, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called it a "travesty", a "farce", a "perversion". He said a UN endorsement of the report, named after the former South African judge, Richard Goldstone, who led the investigating team, would strike a mortal blow to the stature of the world body, to the war against terrorism and most astonishingly given its condition, to the peace process.
Mr Netanyahu even coined the phrase "Goldstone effect" - "Goldstone" being, he said, a "code word for an attempt to delegitimise Israel's right to self-defence".
When this failed to discredit the report, the Israeli premier raised the ante, declaring last month to an audience of international reporters in Jerusalem that the "three most important challenges" Israel faced were Iran's nuclear programme, rockets aimed at Israeli civilians and Goldstone.
Still, the report will not go away. In Israel's latest attempt to achieve its stated goal of consigning the report to a slow death inside the Byzantine UN bureaucracy, the Israeli government was expected to inform the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, this week - perhaps as early as last night - that the internal investigations of the 22-day military operation carried out by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were sufficient.
The UN investigating team headed by Mr Goldstone, who was also the former chief prosecutor for the international criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, is demanding that Israel conduct an independent inquiry of its military's actions during Operation Cast Lead and take "appropriate action to ensure justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators".
Such an inquiry had reportedly been urged by the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, and the IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Gabi Ashkenazi. Earlier this week, however, another top Israeli official signalled his government's intentions after conferring with Mr Ban in New York.
"We have investigated enough," Yuli Edelstein, the minister of information and diaspora affairs, told the newspaper The Jewish Week. "I'm not sure it leads anywhere. It's not necessary".
The UN General Assembly has given Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, until February 3 to reply to the Goldstone team's findings. A floor debate in the UN General Assembly is set for two days later.
In the absence of what the Goldstone report terms "independent" and "good-faith investigations" by both sides, the findings could be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for possible action.
For Israel, in particular, that could realise two of its biggest fears: the issuing of subpoenas and indictments against its political officials and generals, and their detention under international arrest warrants when they travel abroad.
On Wednesday, Hamas officials signalled their intent to the UN, too. They disclosed to the Associated Press a copy of the report they intend to hand the world body. It says Hamas fighters did not target civilians while firing rockets into Israeli towns bordering the Strip. Just as Israeli appears set to, Hamas also rejects the world body's demand for an independent inquiry.
"Palestinian armed groups have repeatedly confirmed that they are abiding by international humanitarian law, through broadcasting in different media that they intended to hit military targets and to avoid targeting civilians," the Hamas report said, citing casualties from "incorrect [or imprecise] fire".
Hamas's defiance of the UN is unlikely to be well received by some Palestinians. Last week, 11 Palestinian human rights groups demanded that both Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank investigate allegations of Palestinian violations outlined in the Goldstone report.
The groups asked Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to launch investigations into the conduct of various Palestinian forces during the war.
The clamour by Palestinians for more action on the human rights front places Mr Abbas in an especially difficult position.
Last fall, he asked the UN Human Rights Council to postpone a vote that, if approved, would have transferred the findings of the Goldstone report immediately to the UN Security Council for action.
Explaining the move, aides to the Palestinian president said that he deferred to the US and Israel, which insisted that an immediate vote would jeopardise the peace process. Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip reacted with outrage.
The Israeli media added an additional wrinkle this month when it reported that Mr Abbas's request for a postponement followed a meeting with Yuval Diskin, the head of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency.
During the October meeting, Mr Diskin allegedly warned the Palestinian president that if he did not request a delay in the vote, Israel would turn the West Bank into a "second Gaza", the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Despite the pressure on Mr Abbas and Hamas, it is still Israel that is under the most strain.
Operation Cast Lead, which began December 27, 2008, was one week of aerial bombing by Israeli war planes followed by a two-week land and air assault. The onslaught resulted in the deaths of 1,393 Palestinians, including 290 children, and the destruction of 3,535 homes. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting. Nine of them were soldiers, four of whom died as the result of friendly fire.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, declared the report "one-sided". Michael Posner, the US assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs, described it as "deeply flawed". Israel-friendly members of the US Congress proposed resolutions also condemning it.
As next week's debate nears, the drumbeat is likely to escalate. Mr Edelstein, Israel's diaspora minister, said that he told the UN secretary general this week that the report had created what he called a "dangerous" atmosphere in which "anti-Semites now find a platform for their views".
Alongside that tack, last fall's denunciation by Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shaleva, seems downright tame.
Ms Shaleva turned to Shakespeare and quoted Macbeth. A Security Council debate on the report, she said, would be "full of sound and fury signifying nothing".
@Email:cnelson@thenational.ae
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
If you go
Flying
Despite the extreme distance, flying to Fairbanks is relatively simple, requiring just one transfer in Seattle, which can be reached directly from Dubai with Emirates for Dh6,800 return.
Touring
Gondwana Ecotours’ seven-day Polar Bear Adventure starts in Fairbanks in central Alaska before visiting Kaktovik and Utqiarvik on the North Slope. Polar bear viewing is highly likely in Kaktovik, with up to five two-hour boat tours included. Prices start from Dh11,500 per person, with all local flights, meals and accommodation included; gondwanaecotours.com
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group H
Juventus v Valencia, Tuesday, midnight (UAE)
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
Ovo's tips to find extra heat
- Open your curtains when it’s sunny
- Keep your oven open after cooking
- Have a cuddle with pets and loved ones to help stay cosy
- Eat ginger but avoid chilli as it makes you sweat
- Put on extra layers
- Do a few star jumps
- Avoid alcohol
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)
Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)
Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
How Beautiful this world is!
Eyasses squad
Charlie Preston (captain) – goal shooter/ goalkeeper (Dubai College)
Arushi Holt (vice-captain) – wing defence / centre (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Olivia Petricola (vice-captain) – centre / wing attack (Dubai English Speaking College)
Isabel Affley – goalkeeper / goal defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Jemma Eley – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Alana Farrell-Morton – centre / wing / defence / wing attack (Nord Anglia International School)
Molly Fuller – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Caitlin Gowdy – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Noorulain Hussain – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai College)
Zahra Hussain-Gillani – goal defence / goalkeeper (British School Al Khubairat)
Claire Janssen – goal shooter / goal attack (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Eliza Petricola – wing attack / centre (Dubai English Speaking College)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Read more from Aya Iskandarani
T10 Cricket League
Sharjah Cricket Stadium
December 14- 17
6pm, Opening ceremony, followed by:
Bengal Tigers v Kerala Kings
Maratha Arabians v Pakhtoons
Tickets available online at q-tickets.com/t10
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills