[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 867 Engrossed in House (EH)]
H. Res. 867
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
November 3, 2009.
Whereas, on January 12, 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed
Resolution A/HRC/S-9/L.1, which authorized a ``fact-finding mission''
regarding Israel's conduct of Operation Cast Lead against violent
militants in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008, and January 18,
2009;
Whereas the resolution pre-judged the outcome of its investigation, by one-
sidedly mandating the ``fact-finding mission'' to ``investigate all
violations of international human rights law and International
Humanitarian Law by * * * Israel, against the Palestinian people * * *
particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current
aggression'';
Whereas the mandate of the ``fact-finding mission'' makes no mention of the
relentless rocket and mortar attacks, which numbered in the thousands
and spanned a period of eight years, by Hamas and other violent militant
groups in Gaza against civilian targets in Israel, that necessitated
Israel's defensive measures;
Whereas the ``fact-finding mission'' included a member who, before joining the
mission, had already declared Israel guilty of committing atrocities in
Operation Cast Lead by signing a public letter on January 11, 2009,
published in the Sunday Times, that called Israel's actions ``war
crimes'';
Whereas the mission's flawed and biased mandate gave serious concern to many
United Nations Human Rights Council Member States which refused to
support it, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland;
Whereas the mission's flawed and biased mandate troubled many distinguished
individuals who refused invitations to head the mission;
Whereas Justice Richard Goldstone, who chaired the ``United Nations Fact Finding
Mission on the Gaza Conflict'', told the then-President of the UNHRC,
Nigerian Ambassador Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, that he intended to
broaden the mandate of the Mission to include ``all violations of
international human rights law and international humanitarian law that
might have been committed at any time in the context of the military
operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27
December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after'', a
phrase that, according to Justice Goldstone, was intended to allow him
to investigate Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians;
Whereas Ambassador Uhomoibhi issued a statement on April 3, 2009, that endorsed
part of Justice Goldstone's proposed broadened mandate but deleted the
phrase ``before, during, and after'', and added inflammatory anti-
Israeli language;
Whereas a so-called broadened mandate was never officially endorsed by a plenary
meeting of the UNHRC, neither in the form proposed by Justice Goldstone
nor in the form proposed by Ambassador Uhomoibhi;
Whereas, on September 15, 2009, the ``United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the
Gaza Conflict'' released its report;
Whereas the report repeatedly made sweeping and unsubstantiated determinations
that the Israeli military had deliberately attacked civilians during
Operation Cast Lead;
Whereas the authors of the report admit that ``we did not deal with the issues *
* * regarding the problems of conducting military operations in civilian
areas and second-guessing decisions made by soldiers and their
commanding officers `in the fog of war.''';
Whereas in the October 16th edition of the Jewish Daily Forward, Richard
Goldstone, the head of the ``United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the
Gaza Conflict'', is quoted as saying, with respect to the mission's
evidence-collection methods, ``If this was a court of law, there would
have been nothing proven.'';
Whereas the report, in effect, denied the State of Israel the right to self-
defense, and never noted the fact that Israel had the right to defend
its citizens from the repeated violent attacks committed against
civilian targets in southern Israel by Hamas and other Foreign Terrorist
Organizations operating from Gaza;
Whereas the report largely ignored the culpability of the Government of Iran and
the Government of Syria, both of whom sponsor Hamas and other Foreign
Terrorist Organizations;
Whereas the report usually considered public statements made by Israeli
officials not to be credible, while frequently giving uncritical
credence to statements taken from what it called the ``Gaza
authorities'', i.e. the Gaza leadership of Hamas;
Whereas, notwithstanding a great body of evidence that Hamas and other violent
Islamist groups committed war crimes by using civilians and civilian
institutions, such as mosques, schools, and hospitals, as shields, the
report repeatedly downplayed or cast doubt upon that claim;
Whereas in one notable instance, the report stated that it did not consider the
admission of a Hamas official that Hamas often ``created a human shield
of women, children, the elderly and the mujahideen, against [the Israeli
military]'' specifically to ``constitute evidence that Hamas forced
Palestinian civilians to shield military objectives against attack.'';
Whereas Hamas was able to significantly shape the findings of the investigation
mission's report by selecting and prescreening some of the witnesses and
intimidating others, as the report acknowledges when it notes that
``those interviewed in Gaza appeared reluctant to speak about the
presence of or conduct of hostilities by the Palestinian armed groups *
* * from a fear of reprisals'';
Whereas even though Israel is a vibrant democracy with a vigorous and free
press, the report of the ``fact-finding mission'' erroneously asserts
that ``actions of the Israeli government * * * have contributed
significantly to a political climate in which dissent with the
government and its actions * * * is not tolerated'';
Whereas the report recommended that the United Nations Human Rights Council
endorse its recommendations, implement them, review their
implementation, and refer the report to the United Nations Security
Council, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and the
United Nations General Assembly for further action;
Whereas the report recommended that the United Nations Security Council--
(1) require the Government of Israel to launch further investigations
of its conduct during Operation Cast Lead and report back to the Security
Council within six months;
(2) simultaneously appoint an ``independent committee of experts'' to
monitor and report on any domestic legal or other proceedings undertaken by
the Government of Israel within that 6-month period; and
(3) refer the case to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court after that 6-month period;
Whereas the report recommended that the United Nations General Assembly consider
further action on the report and establish an escrow fund, to be funded
entirely by the State of Israel, to ``pay adequate compensation to
Palestinians who have suffered loss and damage'' during Operation Cast
Lead;
Whereas the report ignored the issue of compensation to Israelis who have been
killed or wounded, or suffered other loss and damage, as a result of
years of past and continuing rocket and mortar attacks by Hamas and
other violent militant groups in Gaza against civilian targets in
southern Israel;
Whereas the report recommended ``that States Parties to the Geneva Conventions
of 1949 start criminal investigations [of Operation Cast Lead] in
national courts, using universal jurisdiction'' and that ``following
investigation, alleged perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted'';
Whereas the concept of ``universal jurisdiction'' has frequently been used in
attempts to detain, charge, and prosecute Israeli and United States
officials and former officials in connection with unfounded allegations
of war crimes and has often unfairly impeded the travel of those
individuals;
Whereas the State of Israel, like many other free democracies, has an
independent judicial system with a robust investigatory capacity and has
already launched numerous investigations, many of which remain ongoing,
of Operation Cast Lead and individual incidents therein;
Whereas Libya and others have indicated that they intend to further pursue
consideration of the report and implementation of its recommendations by
the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General
Assembly, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and other
multilateral fora;
Whereas the President instructed the United States Mission to the United Nations
and other international organizations in Geneva to vote against
resolution A-HRC-S-12-1, which endorsed the report and condemned Israel,
at the special session of the Human Rights Council held on October 15-
16, 2009;
Whereas, on September 30, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the
mandate for the report as ``one-sided'';
Whereas, on September 17, 2009, Ambassador Susan Rice, United States Permanent
Representative to the United Nations, expressed the United States'
``very serious concern with the mandate'' and noted that the United
States views the mandate ``as unbalanced, one-sided and basically
unacceptable'';
Whereas the ``Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza
Conflict'' reflects the longstanding, historic bias at the United
Nations against the democratic, Jewish State of Israel;
Whereas the ``Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza
Conflict'' is being exploited by Israel's enemies to excuse the actions
of violent militant groups and their state sponsors, and to justify
isolation of and punitive measures against the democratic, Jewish State
of Israel;
Whereas, on October 16, 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted 25-6
(with 11 states abstaining and 5 not voting) to adopt resolution A-HRC-
S-12-1, which endorsed the ``Report of the United Nations Fact Finding
Mission on the Gaza Conflict'' and condemned Israel, without mentioning
Hamas, other such violent militant groups, or their state sponsors; and
Whereas efforts to delegitimize the democratic State of Israel and deny it the
right to defend its citizens and its existence can be used to
delegitimize other democracies and deny them the same right: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) considers the ``Report of the United Nations Fact Finding
Mission on the Gaza Conflict'' to be irredeemably biased and unworthy of
further consideration or legitimacy;
(2) supports the Administration's efforts to combat anti-Israel bias
at the United Nations, its characterization of the ``Report of the
United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict'' as
``unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable'', and its opposition
to the resolution on the report;
(3) calls on the President and the Secretary of State to continue to
strongly and unequivocally oppose any endorsement of the ``Report of the
United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict'' in
multilateral fora, including through leading opposition to any United
Nations General Assembly resolution and through vetoing, if necessary,
any United Nations Security Council resolution that endorses the
contents of this report, seeks to act upon the recommendations contained
in this report, or calls on any other international body to take further
action regarding this report;
(4) calls on the President and the Secretary of State to strongly
and unequivocally oppose any further consideration of the ``Report of
the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict'' and any
other measures stemming from this report in multilateral fora; and
(5) reaffirms its support for the democratic, Jewish State of
Israel, for Israel's security and right to self-defense, and,
specifically, for Israel's right to defend its citizens from violent
militant groups and their state sponsors.
Attest:
Clerk.