Of many issues to be presented at the Student Senate meeting tonight, one is a resolution calling for the Student Senate to denounce the Goldstone report. The Goldstone report is a UN document ratified by 25 of the 47 nations involved in the UN. It was written after a fact-finding mission by Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.
The mission that found both Israel and the Palestinian militants guilty of crimes during the recent 2008 conflict in Gaza. This report, however, is exceedingly biased. I'm not saying that neither side is innocent, but what I am saying is that both sides need equal blame. Israel was admonished for blockading the Gaza strip, and the defense of Israel was intended to "humiliate and terrorize a civilian population." Palestinian militants were reprimanded for launching rockets into Gaza.
I do not claim Israel didn't make mistakes during this event, and that innocent people did not die, but this was a war, and a country has a right to defend itself.
A more complete fact-finding mission needs to be completed to gain my support of any paper putting blame on a nation or group. SG should adopt this resolution tonight.
