In a twenty-five countries to six vote (including the US and the Netherlands), with eleven countries abstaining and five declining to vote (including France and the UK), the United Nations Human Rights Counsel endorsed the Goldstone report. The report accuses the military of using disproportion force and charges the Israelis and Hamas with war crimes, including terrorizing civilian populations. The report calls on Israel and Hamas to conduct investigations into the allegations, and a UN referral to the ICC if the two sides fail to investigate. Read more at Al Jazeera.
Prior to the vote, Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, speaking on behalf of UN Watch, said that the IDF took extraordinary measures to protect civilian populations. Col. Kemp said the IDF dropped leaflets, made thousands of phone calls, and aborted several missions to protect Palestinian civilians. Kemp also said many of the civilian casualties were caused by Palestinian fighters positioning themselves behind a “human shield” of civilians. Read more at .
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