H. Res. 867 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
November 3, 2009. 
Whereas, on January 12, 2009, the United Nations Human 
Rights Council passed Resolution A/HRC/S–9/L.1, which 
authorized a ‘‘fact-finding mission’’ regarding Israel’s 
conduct of Operation Cast Lead against violent militants 
in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008, and Jan-
uary 18, 2009; 
Whereas the resolution pre-judged the outcome of its inves-
tigation, by one-sidedly mandating the ‘‘fact-finding mis-
sion’’ to ‘‘investigate all violations of international human 
rights law and International Humanitarian Law by * * 
* Israel, against the Palestinian people * * * particularly 
in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggres-
sion’’; 
Whereas the mandate of the ‘‘fact-finding mission’’ makes no 
mention of the relentless rocket and mortar attacks, 
which numbered in the thousands and spanned a period 
of eight years, by Hamas and other violent militant 
groups in Gaza against civilian targets in Israel, that ne-
cessitated Israel’s defensive measures; 
Whereas the ‘‘fact-finding mission’’ included a member who, 
before joining the mission, had already declared Israel 
guilty of committing atrocities in Operation Cast Lead by 
signing a public letter on January 11, 2009, published in
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the Sunday Times, that called Israel’s actions ‘‘war 
crimes’’; 
Whereas the mission’s flawed and biased mandate gave seri-
ous concern to many United Nations Human Rights 
Council Member States which refused to support it, in-
cluding Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, 
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the Re-
public of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, 
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 
Ireland; 
Whereas the mission’s flawed and biased mandate troubled 
many distinguished individuals who refused invitations to 
head the mission; 
Whereas Justice Richard Goldstone, who chaired the ‘‘United 
Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’, 
told the then-President of the UNHRC, Nigerian Ambas-
sador Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, that he intended to 
broaden the mandate of the Mission to include ‘‘all viola-
tions 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’’, a phrase that, according to Justice Goldstone, was 
intended to allow him to investigate Hamas attacks on 
Israeli civilians; 
Whereas Ambassador Uhomoibhi issued a statement on April 
3, 2009, that endorsed part of Justice Goldstone’s pro-
posed broadened mandate but deleted the phrase ‘‘before, 
during, and after’’, and added inflammatory anti-Israeli 
language;
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Whereas a so-called broadened mandate was never officially 
endorsed by a plenary meeting of the UNHRC, neither 
in the form proposed by Justice Goldstone nor in the 
form proposed by Ambassador Uhomoibhi; 
Whereas, on September 15, 2009, the ‘‘United Nations Fact 
Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ released its re-
port; 
Whereas the report repeatedly made sweeping and unsubstan-
tiated determinations that the Israeli military had delib-
erately attacked civilians during Operation Cast Lead; 
Whereas the authors of the report admit that ‘‘we did not 
deal with the issues * * * regarding the problems of con-
ducting military operations in civilian areas and second- 
guessing decisions made by soldiers and their com-
manding officers ‘in the fog of war.’ ’’; 
Whereas in the October 16th edition of the Jewish Daily For-
ward, Richard Goldstone, the head of the ‘‘United Na-
tions Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’, is 
quoted as saying, with respect to the mission’s evidence- 
collection methods, ‘‘If this was a court of law, there 
would have been nothing proven.’’; 
Whereas the report, in effect, denied the State of Israel the 
right to self-defense, and never noted the fact that Israel 
had the right to defend its citizens from the repeated vio-
lent attacks committed against civilian targets in south-
ern Israel by Hamas and other Foreign Terrorist Organi-
zations operating from Gaza; 
Whereas the report largely ignored the culpability of the Gov-
ernment of Iran and the Government of Syria, both of 
whom sponsor Hamas and other Foreign Terrorist Orga-
nizations;
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Whereas the report usually considered public statements 
made by Israeli officials not to be credible, while fre-
quently giving uncritical credence to statements taken 
from what it called the ‘‘Gaza authorities’’, i.e. the Gaza 
leadership of Hamas; 
Whereas, notwithstanding a great body of evidence that 
Hamas and other violent Islamist groups committed war 
crimes by using civilians and civilian institutions, such as 
mosques, schools, and hospitals, as shields, the report re-
peatedly downplayed or cast doubt upon that claim; 
Whereas in one notable instance, the report stated that it did 
not consider the admission of a Hamas official that 
Hamas often ‘‘created a human shield of women, chil-
dren, the elderly and the mujahideen, against [the Israeli 
military]’’ specifically to ‘‘constitute evidence that Hamas 
forced Palestinian civilians to shield military objectives 
against attack.’’; 
Whereas Hamas was able to significantly shape the findings 
of the investigation mission’s report by selecting and 
prescreening some of the witnesses and intimidating oth-
ers, as the report acknowledges when it notes that ‘‘those 
interviewed in Gaza appeared reluctant to speak about 
the presence of or conduct of hostilities by the Pales-
tinian armed groups * * * from a fear of reprisals’’; 
Whereas even though Israel is a vibrant democracy with a 
vigorous and free press, the report of the ‘‘fact-finding 
mission’’ erroneously asserts that ‘‘actions of the Israeli 
government * * * have contributed significantly to a po-
litical climate in which dissent with the government and 
its actions * * * is not tolerated’’;
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[of Operation Cast Lead] in national courts, using uni-
versal jurisdiction’’ and that ‘‘following investigation, al-
leged perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted’’; 
Whereas the concept of ‘‘universal jurisdiction’’ has fre-
quently been used in attempts to detain, charge, and 
prosecute Israeli and United States officials and former 
officials in connection with unfounded allegations of war 
crimes and has often unfairly impeded the travel of those 
individuals; 
Whereas the State of Israel, like many other free democ-
racies, has an independent judicial system with a robust 
investigatory capacity and has already launched numer-
ous investigations, many of which remain ongoing, of Op-
eration Cast Lead and individual incidents therein; 
Whereas Libya and others have indicated that they intend to 
further pursue consideration of the report and implemen-
tation of its recommendations by the United Nations Se-
curity Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the 
United Nations Human Rights Council, and other multi-
lateral fora; 
Whereas the President instructed the United States Mission 
to the United Nations and other international organiza-
tions in Geneva to vote against resolution A–HRC–S–12– 
1, which endorsed the report and condemned Israel, at 
the special session of the Human Rights Council held on 
October 15–16, 2009; 
Whereas, on September 30, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton described the mandate for the report as ‘‘one- 
sided’’; 
Whereas, on September 17, 2009, Ambassador Susan Rice, 
United States Permanent Representative to the United
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Nations, expressed the United States’ ‘‘very serious con-
cern with the mandate’’ and noted that the United States 
views the mandate ‘‘as unbalanced, one-sided and basi-
cally unacceptable’’; 
Whereas the ‘‘Report of the United Nations Fact Finding 
Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ reflects the longstanding, 
historic bias at the United Nations against the demo-
cratic, Jewish State of Israel; 
Whereas the ‘‘Report of the United Nations Fact Finding 
Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ is being exploited by 
Israel’s enemies to excuse the actions of violent militant 
groups and their state sponsors, and to justify isolation 
of and punitive measures against the democratic, Jewish 
State of Israel; 
Whereas, on October 16, 2009, the United Nations Human 
Rights Council voted 25–6 (with 11 states abstaining and 
5 not voting) to adopt resolution A–HRC–S–12–1, which 
endorsed the ‘‘Report of the United Nations Fact Find-
ing Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ and condemned Israel, 
without mentioning Hamas, other such violent militant 
groups, or their state sponsors; and 
Whereas efforts to delegitimize the democratic State of Israel 
and deny it the right to defend its citizens and its exist-
ence can be used to delegitimize other democracies and 
deny them the same right: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) considers the ‘‘Report of the United Nations 
Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ to be irre-
deemably biased and unworthy of further consideration 
or legitimacy;
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(2) supports the Administration’s efforts to combat 
anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, its characteriza-
tion of the ‘‘Report of the United Nations Fact Finding 
Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ as ‘‘unbalanced, one-sided 
and basically unacceptable’’, and its opposition to the 
resolution on the report; 
(3) calls on the President and the Secretary of 
State to continue to strongly and unequivocally oppose 
any endorsement of the ‘‘Report of the United Nations 
Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ in multilat-
eral fora, including through leading opposition to any 
United Nations General Assembly resolution and 
through vetoing, if necessary, any United Nations Secu-
rity Council resolution that endorses the contents of this 
report, seeks to act upon the recommendations contained 
in this report, or calls on any other international body 
to take further action regarding this report; 
(4) calls on the President and the Secretary of 
State to strongly and unequivocally oppose any further 
consideration of the ‘‘Report of the United Nations Fact 
Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’’ and any other 
measures stemming from this report in multilateral fora; 
and 
(5) reaffirms its support for the democratic, Jewish 
State of Israel, for Israel’s security and right to self-de-
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fense, and, specifically, for Israel’s right to defend its 
citizens from violent militant groups and their state 
sponsors. 
Attest: 
Clerk.