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Congressman Calvert sponsors resolution to dismiss Goldstone Report
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It’s the same old song when it comes to Congress and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Con-gressman Ken Calvert, who represents California’s Inland Empire, is certainly on board to dismiss Israel’s war crimes during their massive offensive against Gaza, better known as Op-eration Cast Lead. The offensive left well over 1,400 Palestinians dead, the majority being civilians and children. Calvert is one of the sponsors of the non-binding resolution H.R. 867 which calls on the President and Secretary of State to:
(1) consider the ‘Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’ to be irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy;
(2) support the Administration’s efforts to combat anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, its characterization 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 multilateral fora;
(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; (Taken directly from text of H.R. 867)
Essentially H.R. 867 says that Judge Goldstone and his report is full of it and can hit the road. When asked why the Congressman was sponsoring such a radical resolution, he responded through his pres secretary, “As the resolution clearly states, the report issued by the U.N. is blatantly biased against Israel. At a time when we need meaningful discussion and dialogue about how to best pursue peace in the Middle East, it is disappointing that the U.N. chose to produce a one-sided report that was quick to condemn Israel. Therefore, I cosponsored H. Res. 867 along with 113 of my colleagues.”
This is nothing more than a reiteration of the resolution’s statement not an answer as to why one would summarily dismiss an internationally recognized jurist and human rights advocate such as Goldstone. It should be noted that many of the 113 members of Congress supporting this resolution are liberal Democrats who have spoken out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but somehow lack a spine when it comes to saying or doing anything that is not right in line with current ultra right-wing conservative Israel policies. There are other points of view on this matter after all, beside neo-conservative. When asked why he wasn’t support-ing J Street, an 18 month old pro-Israel lobby that does see credence in Judge Goldstone’s findings, Calvert had no comment.
Ever since Judge Goldstone released his report last month Israel has kicked and screamed that the findings are biased. Prime Minister Netanyahu has gone on record stating that no matter what, Israel will never allow one of its own to be tried for war crimes. Those charged with war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia didn’t have the same opportunity to casually dismiss such charges. Neither did Saddam Hussein. It would appear that the Israeli Prime Minister’s actions are a blatant attempt to set Israel above international law and thus all other nations.
For the last month Israel has gone on a major offensive not only against the Goldstone Report, but anyone who does not accept the far right politics of Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minis-ter Avigdor Lieberman. Israel did a full court press with the E.U. but the results are still out. Both England and France refused to vote on the report. This is a major shift from times when their votes would be right in line with the U.S. which of course was right in line with what Israel wanted. Some members of British Parliament are even on board with calling for the ar-rest of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and those Israeli military officers named in the report should they set foot on British soil.
For the past week Olmert has been touring the U.S. The speaking engagements are a two-fer for both the former Prime Minister and Israel. Olmert drums up support for Israel’s battered image and the tour gives him a respite from dealing with his trial on corruption charges. It’s a win/win for both parties. While one would think Olmert would be preaching to the choir here in the United States, the tour has given rise to a growing vocal contingent of protesters who have challenged Olmert’s legitimacy, calling for his arrest and turning him over to the Hague for trial.
While this may be an encouraging change of policy considering the United States’ record of giving Israel whatever it demands, AIPAC and the ADL are still the 600lb. gorillas in the room. Both groups have gone on a “take no prisoners” offensive employing McCarthyite tactics in their attacks. J Street has be referred to as “toy Jews.” Max Blumenthal, a writer for The Nation, who also supports the U.N. Human Rights report, has been labeled as one of the “anti-Zionists with Jewish parents” by the neo-conservative Atlantic writer, Jeffrey Goldberg.
J Street held its first convention last week where an overflow crowd of 1,500 poured into to hear a wide range of speakers, all of whom support Israel. Author Elie Wiesel and Israeli/U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren were both invited to speak at the J Street conference. Oren rejected J Street's offer and instead dispatched a low-level embassy official to "observe" the event and then later accused J Street of "impair[ing] Israel's interests." Wiesel decided his evening would be better spent with Anti-Semitic minister John Hagee. Wiesel addressed a crowd of 6,000 Christian Zionists at Hagee’s “A Night to Honor Israel.” According to the San Antonio Express News, while Wiesel sat by his side, Hagee trashed President Barack Obama, baselessly accusing him of "being tougher on Israel than on Russia, Iran, China and North Korea. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, had already paid his respects to the minister when he appeared at Hagee’s “Christians United for Israel” summit earlier this year.
For those who might have forgotten, Hagee is the same minister Senator John McCain sought out for an endorsement when he was running for President. As reported on Huffington Post, McCain was unaware at the time that Hagee gave a sermon, declaring the Holocaust to be a divinely ordained incident orchestrated by God to fulfill biblical prophecy and went on to state that the Jews' rejection of Jesus was the root of anti-Semitism. Hagee also predicted that when the Antichrist returned, he would be homosexual and "partially Jewish, as was Adolph Hitler, as was Karl Marx." To his credit once McCain became aware of the minister’s radical views he quickly distanced himself from Hagee.
While one might excuse Senator McCain for not being aware of Hagee’s rabid anti-Semitism the same excuse can not be made for either Wiesel or Oren. Both should be well aware that the minister is a big believer in the “End Times” where all Jews who don’t convert to Christianity will be slain by god’s Christian soldiers in order to bring about the Second Coming. Their support of Hagee is of course directly connected to the minister’s financial and propaganda support for the settlement movement on the West Bank. This issue is now the heart of difficulty in the U.S.-Israel relationship and a direct impasse for Palestinian Fatah President Abbas to sit down with the Israelis. Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are also the major stumbling block for even friendly Muslim nations such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia who now view the United States as being blatantly one-sided in the equation. This is especially true since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks last Saturday regarding Israel’s “unprecedented” offer to slow settlement construction. A statement she has now had to seriously backtrack on in order to retain a semblance of U.S, credibility in the region.
Just like Clinton’s retraction, if the U.S. is to be viewed by other nations as promoting peace through dialogue we must refrain from promoting resolutions that are clearly prejudicial and all but negate a noted jurist’s lifelong credentials. Congressman Calvert’s sponsoring of a one-sided resolution does nothing constructive to further peace in the Middle East and the long overdue creation of a sovereign Palestinian State. It serves the same purpose as Wiesel’s and Oren’s endorsement of minister Hagee and his fundamentalist followers, to create an atmosphere of fear and further an agenda of hate and distrust.
President Obama promised change when he campaigned for office. He went to Cairo to speak directly to the Muslim world. If the United States wants to regain the position it lost in the world under the Bush/Cheney regime then the President is going to have to deliver on the change promised. One of the biggest steps he and his administration could take toward making that promise a reality would be to ignore H.R. 867 for the neo-conservative reactionary resolution it is. This would only be fair since neo-conservatives like Calvert are demanding that the United States ignore Judge Goldstone and international law.
