NOVANEWS
Resolution 138 passes unanimously, calls on members of Human Rights Council to ‘reflect the author’s repudiation off the Goldstone report’s central findings’, and asks UN chief Ban to ‘do all in his power to redress the damage to Israel’s reputation’.The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday calling on the United Nations Human Rights Council to rescind the Goldstone Commission’s report on the Gaza war, in light of its author’s expressed regret for some of its claim.
Resolution 138 urges council members “to reflect the author’s repudiation of the Goldstone report’s central findings, rescind the report and reconsider further Council actions with respect to the report’s findings.”
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In this June 3, 2009, photo, UN investigator Richard Goldstone visits the destroyed house where members of the Samouni family were killed during the Gaza war. |
| Photo by: AP |
http://c5.zedo.com/jsc/c5/ff2.html?n=305;c=5899/5269/1;s=1369;d=9;w=300;h=250The resolution also asks UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to “do all in his power to redress the damage to Israel’s reputation” in the wake of the report, and to bring forth reforms within the council so that it “no longer unfairly, disproportionately and falsely criticizes Israel on a regular basis.”South African Judge Richard Goldstone published an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier this month in which he backtracked on claims he had made in the UN report, accusing Israel of targeting civilians during Operation Cast Lead two years ago.
In his op-ed, Goldstone said that if Israel had cooperated with his probe then the conclusions on the report would have been different.“We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report,” Goldstone wrote, adding: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”Goldstone said that Israel has shown to probe itself “to a significant degree” over Gaza war actions, Goldstone wrote, Hamas, who has been in control of the coastal enclave since 2007, “has done nothing.”Despite Israel’s requests, however, both UN Human Rights Council and UN chief Ban, however, have said that the report would not be rescinded. Goldstone himself has said that he is not seeking to annul the report.
