BY ISRAEL TODAY—
The US Senate on Tuesday formally and unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the UN Human Rights Council rescind the Goldstone Report, which falsely accused Israel of committing war crimes in its 2009 invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched the month-long incursion in order to curb terrorist rocket fire on southern Israel. But in his UN-mandated investigation into the conflict, South African judge Richard Goldstone claimed – based solely on Palestinian accusations – that Israel had deliberately targeted civilians.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier this month, Goldstone acknowledged that an internal Israeli investigation had proved that his conclusions were wrong, and that Israel had not committed any war crimes.
Nevertheless, Israel’s enemies at the UN continue to use the Goldstone Report to attack the Jewish state, and US congressional leaders want that to stop.
The Senate resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to see to it that the Human Rights Council shelf the Goldstone Report and no longer use it as a basis for further motions against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority, in turn, lashed out at the US Congress, calling the resolution a distortion of justice in service to Israel.
The Palestinian leadership called on US President Barack Obama to veto the Senate resolution, insisting that it encourages Israeli “settlement activity” and the mistreatment of Palestinian civilians.
That the Senate resolution was based on Goldstone’s own admission that he had been wrong about Israel’s actions was not addressed by the Palestinian Authority.