[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.