U.S. Congress approves resolution to block UN adoption of the Goldstone Gaza report

At least in the United States, the case of Israel regarding the Goldstone report is secure after congress voted overwhelmingly to ask the President to oppose any endorsement of the Golstone report in the UN. The house resolution was modified at the last minute to take into account the objections of Judge Goldstone, but the modifications did not weaken it, according to a JTA report.

 

The vote is also a defeat for the nascent J Street lobby, which had criticized the resolution and sought to replace it with a resolution calling on Israel and the Palestinians to launch investigations into the war crimes allegations. The Israeli military already is conducting such an investigation. There is no chance, of course, that the Palestinians will investigate whether or not firing terror rockets at civilians is a war crime and whether or not they were fired. Everyone knows they were fired and everyone knows that indiscriminate attacks on civilians are crimes against humanity. That's the whole point of having groups like Hamas, isn't it?

 

The European Union is probably going to ask for a resolution similar to the J Street concept, calling for investigations. It is very likely however, that the resolution that will pass the General Assembly will be the Arab sponsored one that condemns Israel unilaterally. Such resolutions have no effect, since only the Security Council, where the United States holds veto power, can have substantive effect.  

 

Since the United States could be arbitrarily accused of war crimes in precisely the same way as Israel has been accused, adoption of the Goldstone report would create a dangerous precedent. Therefore it is in the interests of the United States, as well as Britain and other European countries to prevent legitimation of the bizarre initiatives of the U.N. Human Rights Council which originated the Goldstone report.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Last update - 01:06 04/11/2009       
U.S. Congress approves resolution to reject Goldstone Gaza report
By Natasha Mozgovaya and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents

The U.S. Congress on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a resolution encouraging President Barack Obama's administration to oppose any endorsement of the Goldstone Commission's damning report on Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

 

The final tally had 344 votes in favor of the resolution and 36 opposing it.

 

The UN-commissioned report accuses both Israel and Hamas of carrying out war crimes in the Gaza Strip during the offensive there earlier this year. The Human Rights Council has commissioned the report, which was endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.
 Advertisement

 

The Ros-Lehtinen/Berman resolution basically defines the report as "biased and unworthy of further consideration," U.S. Representative Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, said recently at the Jerusalem Conference

 

Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, warned lawmakers that further consideration of the Goldstone report could seriously harm Middle East peace negotiations.

 

"Israel, like all sovereign nations, has the responsibility to respect human rights and adhere to international law," she said, "However, its defense of its citizens against attacks by Hamas militants simply cannot be conflated with terrorist actions.

 

"Facilitating a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is among our most important foreign policy priorities, and further consideration of the Goldstone report could hinder movement toward peace negotiations," said Lowey.

 

The National Jewish Democratic Council urged Democratic members of Congress to support the resolution and denounce the commission's report.

 

"The Obama administration has made it abundantly and repeatedly clear that they stand with Israel against the distorted Goldstone Commission report. And as this legislation correctly asserts, the report is indeed 'irredeemably biased,'" the JDC said in a statement.

 

"We concur with the findings of the Ros-Lehtinen/Berman resolution that this report is deeply flawed, and that the U.S. government should do all in its power to stop this report in its tracks at the UN, lest it be used to undermine Israel's fundamental right to self-defense in the future."

 

Israel urges West to reject Goldstone report

 

Meanwhile, Israel has called on Western nations to speak out against any endorsement of report when the matter comes up for deliberation at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

 

Israel has told the countries of the European Union and other friendly nations that it expects them to vote against any resolution proposed by the Arab states on the report.

 

The deliberations will revolve around a draft resolution by Arab states
calling for the adoption of the report and the transfer of the debate from the General Assembly to the Security Council. The resolution also calls for an independent inquiry by Israel into Operation Cast Lead and the presentation of its conclusions in three months.

 

Senior officials at the Foreign Ministry described the Arab resolution as very extreme and said it constitutes an escalation of the attacks against Israel in international forums.

 

A vote is not expected immediately, but Israeli sources say one is likely by the end of the week.

 

On Tuesday, Britain and France, representing the EU, held talks with
representatives of the Palestinian Authority and Arab states at the United Nations in an effort to soften the proposed resolution.

 

Accordingly a Franco-British document representing the EU has been drafted, describing "red lines" that the resolution should not cross if the Arab states and the Palestinians expect Western support.

 

Essentially, the offer seeks to avoid the transfer of deliberations from the General Assembly to the Security Council or the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The Europeans are asking Israel and the Palestinians to agree to an independent inquiry into the war and a return of the matter to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

 

A notable element in the Arab draft resolution is a failure to mention Hamas; it refers only to the Palestinians, even though the original Goldstone report mentions Hamas and accuses it of carrying out war crimes along with Israel.

 

Whatever form it takes, the Arab resolution is expected to gain a majority with 130 votes. However, if it remains extremist and the Europeans refuse to support it, there is a chance that around 60 countries will vote against it or abstain.

 

Foreign Ministry director general Yossi Gal told ambassadors on Tuesday that any further support for the Goldstone report would have a negative effect on the peace process and undermine democracies' right to self-defense.

 

ADL director to Goldstone: As a good Jew, repudiate report

 

Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman of ADL called on Goldstone to repudiate his report: "I have had great respect for you over the years. Your work at the head of the South Africa Reconciliation Commission and in helping to find a just solution to the Bosnian conflict deserves the highest commendation.

 

"Moreover, I know you to be a proud Jew who serves on the Board of Trustees of Hebrew University and who has a daughter living in Israel."

 

"With this background, I wondered in the first place how you could take on the chairmanship of the investigation of the war in Gaza mandated by the UN Human Rights Council," he said. "After all, the Human Rights Council has repeatedly demonstrated its bias against Israel and in its stated mission for the investigation began with assumptions presuming Israeli guilt."