As the United Nations General Assembly prepares on Wednesday to consider the Goldstone Report detailing Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people of Gaza, and as people across the United States have greeted the speaking tour of war criminal and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with loud and defiant protests, the U.S. Congress is preparing to vote on a resolution that proclaims Israeli impunity for war crimes and immunity for war criminals. [NOTE: HR 867 was passed by the House of Representatives on November 3, 2009 with a vote of 344 Yes, 36 No, 22 present, 22 not voting. Click here to see how your representative voted.]
House Resolution 867 (full text here), introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY), Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) (see full list of cosponsors here), calls for the U.S. administration under President Barack Obama to continue its efforts to block, stall, delay and delegitimize the report at the United Nations. The US Palestinian Community Network is joining with American Muslims for Palestine and many others to urge that ths resolution be defeated.
Call Congress today and inform your representative that this resolution calling for utter impunity for Israeli war crimes is reprehensible, outrageous and must be defeated. The US House of Representatives main switchboard is (202) 225-3121 or visit ://www.house.gov/ to locate your representative.
While the U.S. has repeatedly blocked and vetoed efforts to protect Palestinian rights in the United Nations and has spared no effort in order to protect Israeli war criminals from prosecution and investigation for the war on the Palestinian people of Gaza that killed approximately 1400, wounded thousands more, and left thousands more homeless and continuing to suffer under siege, U.S. involvement in war crimes in Gaza does not begin or end with the efforts to undermine the Goldstone report and block accountability.
The war on Gaza and the crimes detailed in the Goldstone report were committed with U.S.-made and U.S.-funded weaponry, and the U.S. bears direct responsibility both for the devastation wreaked upon Gaza, as well as its attempts to ensure impunity for Israeli war criminals in international forums.
Every year, the U.S. government provides Israel with over three billion dollars in tax-funded aid that goes to wage war on Palestinians, purchase advanced weaponry from U.S. military corporations, and deny Palestinians’ fundamental national and human rights.
- CALL CONGRESS TODAY! H.R. 867 is expected to reach a vote Tuesday. Demand that your representative vote NO on H.R. 867 and reject impunity and immunity for war criminals. Call upon him or her to vote also to end U.S. aid to Israel.US House of Representatives
(202) 225-3121
://www.house.gov/ - Don’t stop there! The United Nations General Assembly is expected to consider the Goldstone report on Wednesday, representing a major opportunity to move the report forward and encourage international prosecutions of Israeli war criminals. Over 2,000 organizations and individuals have signed on to the USPCN’s open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon calling for implementation of the Goldstone report and prosecution of Israeli war criminals before international tribunals.Sign the letter online here and your signature will also immediately reach the leadership of the United Nations, including Secretary-General Ban and the President of the General Assembly, as well as U.S. officials and Congressional leaders!
Israeli war criminals have been met with protests wherever they go – most recently on October 27, in Arkansas, where a determined group of protesters ensured that Olmert was well aware that war criminals were not welcome! Hundreds of individuals and organizations utilized the USPCN website to contact the University of Arkansas, which hosted Olmert’s talk (and paid him $50,000 of student tuition money), and express their outrage at the official welcome given to this war criminal by the university.
Now is the time to keep the pressure on – take action today to defend Palestinian rights and defeat immunity and impunity for war crimes!
US Palestinian Community Network
November 1, 2009
