Advocate General of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has called the Goldstone Report "a vicious lie," for making it appear as if the IDF intentionaly went after civilians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008-2009. Though the Goldstone Report is over 500 pages long (not counting appendices), and has 1,223 footnotes, many of the most damning statements are not well sourced. The two central conclusions in the Goldstone Report were that Israel used rocket attacks from Gaza as a pretext for the "real" purpose, which was targeting Palestinian women, children, and elderly for death; and that this objective was the explicit policy of the highest levels of the Israeli government and military, making it a war crime.

The Goldstone Report considered these charges to be "based in fact," and said there was "no doubt" that they were true. By contrast, the Goldstone Report said that Hamas was not guilty of using the civilian population of Gaza as human shields, that there was no evidence of Hamas fighters wearing civilian clothing during the operation, and that there was no evidence of Hamas fighters mingling with civilians with the express intent of shielding themselves. Furthermore, the Goldstone Report said there was no support for claims that they used mosques to store weapons.

But in fact, the Goldstone Report is wrong about these conclusions and there is copious evidence proving that the opposite is true. The evidence shows that the IDF made a concerted effort (including phoning civilians in Gaza to warn them) to minimize civilian casualties. Evidence also shows, contrary to what is in the Goldstone Report, that Hamas had a deliberate policy of dressing combatants in civilian clothing to blend with the general population, they fired their rockets from densely populated areas, stored weapons in mosques, and used civilians as human shields. In other words, the two main conclusions of the Goldstone Report are demonstrably false.