[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   U.N. REPORT ON ISRAEL'S SELF-DEFENSE ACTION IN GAZA HIGHLY FLAWED

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                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 16, 2009

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to urge the 
Obama Administration to categorically and completely reject the 
Goldstone report recently issued by the despot-controlled United 
Nations Human Rights Council that accused Israel of ``war crimes, as 
well as possibly crimes against humanity'' during Israel's defensive 
operations in Gaza this past winter.
  The United Nations has a long and well documented history of anti-
U.S., anti-Israel, and anti-freedom activism, and the Goldstone report 
rubber-stamps the U.N. Human Rights Councils predetermined conclusion 
that Israel committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. 
From the beginning, the Council instructed the Goldstone Commission to 
focus only on Israel's ``aggression'' against the Palestinian people--a 
presumption of Israeli guilt before any so-called investigation had 
even taken place.
  During the years when Hamas launched thousands of rockets at innocent 
Israeli civilians, the United Nations human rights bodies didn't call 
for any investigation or issue any kind of condemnation. Instead, the 
Human Rights Council has passed 26 anti-Israel resolutions out of 33 
motions to censure countries. Of the 11 emergency sessions that the 
Council has convened to deal with pressing human rights concerns, six 
have dealt with Israel. In fact, Israel is the only country listed on 
the Council's permanent agenda; and only examines Israeli 
``violations'' of Palestinian human rights. There is nothing on the 
Council's agenda examining the threats or actions of terrorist groups 
or the nations that support them.
  Article 51 of the United Nation's Charter guarantees all U.N. Members 
the right to defend themselves against terrorism and other external 
threats. The Goldstone report completely ignores this fundamental 
right. It also ignores the steps taken by the Israeli Defense Forces to 
minimize civilian casualties, steps that often put Israeli soldiers at 
increased risk. And the Goldstone Report completely ignores Hamas' 
callous practice of intertwining its terrorist infrastructure within 
civilian population centers--hospitals, schools, mosques, and even U.N. 
facilities.
  Madam Speaker, the United States must demand fairness and not allow 
the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security 
Council, the so-called Human Rights Councils or any other U.N. body to 
take any punitive actions against Israel for exercising Israel's United 
Nation's guaranteed right of self-defense.
  It is also high time that we take action to leverage our 
contributions to the U.N. to demand the United Nations finally 
implement concrete, sweeping reforms to root out ongoing fraud, 
corruption, and abuse throughout the U.N. system; and end once and for 
all the naked, systemic anti-U.S., anti-Israel, anti-Semitic bias 
within the UN.

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