IV 112th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 232 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 15, 2011 Mr. Dold (for himself and Mr. Peters) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Recognizing the recent admission by Richard Goldstone of the deeply flawed conclusions in his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council and urging the Administration to take steps to reverse the damage done by the Goldstone Report.

Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Council commissioned its “fact-finding” Goldstone Report following the three-week, 2008 to 2009 war between Hamas in Gaza and the State of Israel; Whereas this war grew out of Hamas’ ongoing, deliberate attacks, intended to terrorize the communities and the men, women, and children of southern Israel; Whereas 4,246 rockets and 4,180 mortar rounds were fired into the State of Israel from Gaza, from 2001 to 2008; Whereas the Goldstone Report alleged that the State of Israel deliberately targeted civilians as a matter of policy in its war with Hamas; Whereas the Goldstone Report accused Israel of committing war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity; Whereas the Goldstone Report has been employed as a key source by those in the international community in an ongoing effort to isolate the State of Israel and delegitimize its very existence; Whereas the United States repudiated the Goldstone Report as “deeply flawed” when it first emerged; Whereas Richard Goldstone served as the principal author of the Goldstone Report; Whereas Richard Goldstone has now backed off from the Goldstone Report’s conclusion that Israel intentionally targeted civilians as a matter of policy in its war with Hamas; Whereas Richard Goldstone now states that, “civilians were not intentionally targeted [by Israel] as a matter of policy”; Whereas Richard Goldstone now states that, “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a much different document”; Whereas Richard Goldstone now states that it was the Hamas’ rockets that were “purposely and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets”; Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Council has demonstrated a history of extreme bias against the State of Israel; Whereas in the first 100 days of 2011, over 175 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into the State of Israel; Whereas in 2010, 238 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza into the State of Israel; Whereas, on April 7, 2011, a missile fired from Gaza struck a school bus of Israeli children; Whereas the State of Israel has, as do all sovereign nations in the world, the right to defend itself against terror attacks on its citizens; Whereas the Goldstone Report unfairly generated great harm to Israel’s reputation, and can potentially continue to harm Israel and its citizens in the future; and Whereas the United States must exhibit leadership in beginning to reverse the damage done by the Goldstone Report: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should— (1)work to inform members of the United Nations General Assembly of Judge Goldstone’s reconsideration of his own report and admission of its deeply flawed and inaccurate conclusion; (2)block future United Nations actions premised on the falsehoods in the Goldstone Report; (3)reaffirm the right of any sovereign nation to defend itself against terror deliberately targeting its civilians; and (4)continue to seek major reforms of the United Nations Human Rights Council.