Opposing Any Endorsement Or Further Consideration Of Report Of The United Nations Fact Finding Mission On The Gaza Conflict

Floor Speech

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Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my sincere disappointment that my colleagues and I are once again in a very untenable position on such a critical issue facing our country, our ally Israel, the Palestinian people and the global community.

House Resolution 867 is just the wrong resolution yet again at this time. The U.N. General Assembly takes up this business tomorrow, and I think it's really important for us to note that the Congress gets one shot, one shot, to address the shortcomings of the mandate for the inquiry, the pitfalls of the Goldstone Report, and one shot to call on the Palestinians and Israelis to conduct their independent investigations and to stand for human rights and international law.

David Ben-Gurion once said, ``Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence,'' and I think we should heed that today. I say it's the wrong resolution because it's our opportunity actually to get it right in a new direction for the Middle East. Regrettably, in this flawed process, we are tarnishing the reputation of one of the greatest advocates for human rights of our time, Justice Richard Goldstone. As a member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I believe we should have and the oversight committees of jurisdiction should have extended to Justice Goldstone the courtesy of inviting him to present his findings on the record. We didn't. We did not extend to the Israeli Government the courtesy of explaining on the record the shortcomings they find in this report.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

Mr. ELLISON. I yield the gentlelady an additional 5 seconds.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. I want to just communicate that it's really important for us to get it right, and I appreciate the leadership of Chairman Berman. I look forward to us working in the future for something that actually does lead to peace.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my sincere disappointment that my colleagues and I are once again in a tenable position on such a critical issue facing our country, facing our ally Israel, the Palestinian people and the global community.

This resolution, H. Res. 867, is the wrong resolution at this time. The U.N. General Assembly takes up this business tomorrow. Our Nation will be speaking in defense and support of Israel. It is important to note, that while we are united in our support for Israel and the Palestinian people, this Congress gets one shot to address the shortcomings of the mandate for the inquiry and the pitfalls of the Goldstone report. We also get only one shot to call on the Palestinians and the Israelis to conduct their own independent inquiries, to stand up in defense of human rights and international law, and to investigate wrongdoing by all parties with the objective of ensuring that it does not happen again.

David Ben-Gurion once said, ``without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.'' I believe that Israel operates under that spirit today; I am encouraged that there is a robust dialogue within the country over the Gaza war. It is important that this dialogue continues and Israel is allowed to pursue the rule of law unhampered. Now is the appropriate time for the Palestinians to take additional steps to eschew violence and operate with moral and intellectual independence. This will provide additional support to their calls for national independence. They can do this by conducting their own inquiry and investigate the allegations against entities in Gaza.

I say this is the wrong resolution because it fails to call for independent investigations by the Israelis and Palestinians. This was our opportunity to get it right and when this resolution passes, we will have gotten it wrong. It will be a missed opportunity to move closer to achieving a two-state solution. Regrettably, in this flawed process, we are tarnishing the reputation of one of the greatest advocates for human rights of our time, Justice Richard Goldstone. As a member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I believe we should have, and the oversight committees of jurisdiction should have extended to Justice Goldstone the courtesy of inviting him to present his findings on the record. We didn't. We did not extend to the Israeli Government the courtesy of explaining, on the record, the shortcomings they find in this report. By not taking these actions we have now been forced to consider a poorly constructed resolution at the eleventh hour just before our U.N. delegation presents its case to the General Assembly. Further, this resolution actually calls on the administration to not go to the U.N. tomorrow as it is so broad that it calls on the President and Secretary of State to ``oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Goldstone report in multilateral fora''. Unfortunately, these mixed messages and inconsistencies damage this resolution and the lack of due diligence risks a diminished reputation of this body in the international arena.

As I stand right now I want to communicate to the United Nations that enough is enough: It is inappropriate to create a mandate that is so easily impeachable. However, I find it difficult to abide with a resolution that I find so deeply flawed and as one-sided as some suggest of the Goldstone Report.

I know that these issues are difficult, and I want to thank Chairman Berman; while I disagree with many points in this resolution, I appreciate his leadership on this issue. I appreciate that we will be standing united behind our President as we work toward a lasting two-state solution to find peace for Israel and her people and a homeland for Palestinians.

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