Stand for Israel

The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution Friday supporting more investigation into alleged war crimes by Israel in last year’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza strip. The resolution solidifies the U.N. acceptance of accusations made against Israel by the Goldstone Report last year.

The biased resolution, known as the “Arab resolution,” which was drafted by Palestinians and consponsored by more than 20 Islamic countries, essentially mandates an ongoing further “independent” investigation into Israel’s operation in Gaza. However, the last independent investigation–last year’s Goldstone Report–has been criticized by Israel and her allies as biased. The report has also been questioned by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Prior to the U.N. vote this week, more than 90 members of the U.S. Congress signed a letter to Clinton which expressed concern that the Goldstone Report was being used “as a tool to delegitimize Israel and sabotage the peace process.”

The report, written by Judge Richard Goldstone, a former chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals, condemned Israel for the use of “disproportionate force” and committing “numerous serious violations of international law.” It included some criticism of the Palestinian role in the conflict, which the draft adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council in October did not include, choosing to focus on blaming Israel instead.

In September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly addressed the allegations made by the Goldstone Report when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly, calling it a “perversion of truth.

“Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy’s civilian population from harm’s way,” he said, defending Israel’s actions in Gaza. “We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave.”

Netanyahu eloquently presented the evidence of Israel’s innocence before the U.N. body, but it seems the U.N. body was not listening. The resolution calls for yet another report within five months.

98 nations voted in favor of the resolution, seven against, 31 abstained, and 56 nations did not participate. U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff voted against the resolution, the Washington Post reported .