From the office of Rep. Joe Walsh (R, 8th District)…
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-08) introduced H.R. 1501 to withhold U.S. contributions to the regularly assessed U.N. biennial budget until it officially retracts the Goldstone Report, a 2009 U.N. report that accused Israel of war crimes. This bill is a response to last week’s Washington Post Op-Ed by the report’s author, Dr. Richard Goldstone, in which he recanted the entire report. He wrote that the report’s central accusation—that Israeli soldiers deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians during its invasion of Gaza—is false. Goldstone has now concluded that “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone report would have been a different document”.
“This is just another example of the United Nations’ long-time bias against Israel,” said Walsh. “I find it outrageous that the United Nations has yet to distance itself from a report that even its author has discredited and disavowed.”
“The United Nations has not been an honest broker in the Middle East. And Dr. Goldstone himself admitted that. It is high time that the United Nations stopped focusing so much of its energy vilifying Israel and started dealing with the facts.”
“That is why this week I am introducing a bill to hold the United Nations accountable for its bias against Israel. Under my legislation, the United States would withhold its funding from the United Nations until it officially retracts the Goldstone Report. We’re just asking the United Nations to disavow a now discredited report. It is not an unreasonable request. And if it refuses to do so, the United Nations will simply be confirming its anti-Israel bias to the world.”