The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) praises the US Senate for its unanimous passage of a resolution yesterday calling on “the United Nations Human Rights 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.”
The bi-partisan resolution was sponsored by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and James Risch (R-ID), and was co-sponsored by 32 other senators. The resolution also asked United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to help “reform the United Nations Human Rights Council so that it no longer unfairly, disproportionately, and falsely criticizes Israel on a regular basis,” and to “redress the damage to Israel’s reputation caused by the Goldstone report.”
Finally, it asked the US Administration and the Secretary-General to prevent any further damage that might result from the “libelous” report both to our ally Israel, and to the reputation of the United Nations.
ZOA was actively involved in this important resolution and worked hard to get co-sponsors signed on and in promoting the passage of this resolution.
Joshua London and Daniel Pollak, Co-Directors of Government Relations for ZOA, commented: “The Senate should be praised for its action in detailing for the record this embarrassing episode in the history of the UN. Richard Goldstone’s recent mea culpa in the Washington Post was a start, but doesn’t even begin to undo the harm he has perpetrated against the Jewish State of Israel by lending his name to this slander masquerading as a report. The unanimous nature of the resolution makes the point that nowhere in the political culture of the US is there significant support for the demonization of Israel.”
ZOA National President Morton Klein said: “This action by the Senate reminds us that the Goldstone Report was promoting a horrific lie and libel against the Jewish state of Israel from beginning to end. This report helped galvanize the ongoing campaign of delegitimization and demonization against Israel’s very existence. The authors of that vicious anti-Semitic fraudulent tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion would have been proud of the content and the impact of the despicable Goldstone Report.”
“It is shocking that Goldstone’s reversal last week has still not even begun to garner the sort of press attention that greeted his initial report, and the vigorous personal efforts he took to promote and defend that report. This action by the US Senate should be the catalyst for additional activity by Justice Goldstone, including a public press conference where he should apologize for the great harm he has done to the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the cause of Zionism. Besides this public apology, Goldstone should do the only other respectable thing left to him, by actively working to try and undo the delegitimization and demonization that he has caused by working to have the United Nations rescind his report and withdraw all support for its use in any UN forum.”
“In light of this action by the US Senate, it remains deeply troubling that all those groups that actively promoted and defended the despicable Goldstone Report have not come forward to, acknowledge the falsity of that report and revise their statements and materials in accord with the corrected record. Those groups that claim to be pro-Israel, like JStreet, should be at the forefront now of distancing themselves from the Goldstone Report and apologizing for contributing to the report’s acceptance and promotion.”