UN report on Gaza war crimes a 'kangaroo court', says Israeli PM

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday condemned a damning UN report on the Gaza war as a "kangaroo court," saying it was biased from the start.
The UN probe said both Israel and Palestinian groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the 22-day war in December-January that Israel launched in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.
The report was "a kangaroo court; it was fixed from the start," Netanyahu told Israel's privately-owned Channel Two television, speaking publicly for the first time on the report.
Netanyahu called on the international community to condemn the report, which reserved some of its harshest language for the actions taken by Israel against the civilian population in the densely populated Gaza Strip.
"The report encourages terrorism and undermines the natural right of states to defend themselves," Netanyahu said.
"If you support our right to self-defence, say so now." Earlier today, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman denied that Israeli forces committed atrocities during the Gaza war, describing the report as "hypocrisy."
"We share very human values and Israel's army is maybe the most human army in the world. We are fighting for our independence since 1948", he said in Podgorica, Montenegro.
But South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed the commission that issued the report, rejected Israeli criticism that it was biased.