Expresses the sense of Congress that now that evidence is available that nullifies the most controversial aspects of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Report) the United Nations (U.N.) should formally retract the Report.
Directs the Secretary of State to withhold U.S. contributions to the regularly assessed U.N. biennial budget until the U.N. formally retracts the Report.
Defines "formally retracts" as a U.N.-adopted resolution stating that insufficient information relating to the Report's subject matter was available before its release and that the Report is annulled.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1501 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1501
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 12, 2011
Mr. Walsh of Illinois (for himself, Mr. Grimm, Mr. Ross of Florida, Mr.
Rogers of Alabama, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. Burton of
Indiana, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Chaffetz, Mr.
Graves of Missouri, Mr. Sessions, Mrs. Ellmers, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Gohmert,
Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. West, Mr. Canseco, Mr. Gibson, Mr. Posey, Mr. Poe
of Texas, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Long, and Mr. Kline) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
(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>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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