[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 923 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 923

To withhold United States contributions to the United Nations until the 
   United Nations formally retracts the final report of the ``United 
          Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 9, 2011

     Mr. Vitter (for himself, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Inhofe) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To withhold United States contributions to the United Nations until the 
   United Nations formally retracts the final report of the ``United 
          Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On April 3, 2009, the President of the Human Rights 
        Council established the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on 
        the Gaza Conflict with the directive ``to investigate 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''.
            (2) On September 29, 2009, the United Nations Human Rights 
        Council presented a report on the United Nations Fact Finding 
        Mission on the Gaza Conflict, a report most often referred to 
        as the ``Goldstone Report'', that accused Israel of potential 
        war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal 
        Court.
            (3) On April 1, 2011, Justice Richard Goldstone, the author 
        of the Goldstone Report, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post 
        about the Goldstone Report and stated that more information is 
        now available regarding the Gaza War of 2008-2009 and that, 
        ``If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report 
        would have been a different document.''.
            (4) Justice Goldstone reiterated the following well known 
        fact: ``That the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were 
        intentional goes without saying--its rockets were purposefully 
        and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.''.
            (5) Evidence that was made available following the 
        Goldstone Report confirms that Israel as a matter of policy did 
        not intentionally target civilians.
            (6) Justice Goldstone reiterated the well known fact that 
        the United Nations Human Rights Council has long held a bias 
        against Israel.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that now that 
evidence is available that undoubtedly nullifies the most controversial 
aspects of the Goldstone Report, the United Nations should formally 
retract the Goldstone Report.

SEC. 2. WITHHOLDING OF UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED 
              NATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall withhold United 
States contributions to the regularly assessed biennial budget of the 
United Nations until such time as the United Nations formally retracts 
the final report of the ``United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 
Gaza Conflict'' (commonly referred to as the ``Goldstone Report'') that 
was presented to the United Nations Humans Rights Council during its 
12th Session, in Geneva, on September 29, 2009. The withheld 
contributions shall be returned to the general fund of the Treasury to 
be used for debt reduction purposes.
    (b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``formally retracts'' 
means a resolution adopted by the United Nations stating that 
insufficient information relating to the subject matter of the report 
referred to in subsection (a) was available before the release of such 
report and such report is annulled.
                                 <all>