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UK to back Israel by abstaining on Goldstone report


Vote expected today at the UN Human Rights Council and according to the BBC the UK will abstain which if true would be a disgrace
The UN Human Rights Council is due to vote on whether to endorse a report which accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes in Gaza.

Israel has campaigned intensively to dissuade countries with voting rights from backing the report by Richard Goldstone, which it says is biased.

It says support for the report will hurt attempts to restart peace talks.

The Palestinian Authority initially backed deferring a vote, but changed its position after domestic criticism.

The report is heavily critical of Israel and urges both sides to investigate their own conduct.

If they fail to do so, it calls on the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court.

The US has dubbed the report "flawed", but has still urged - along with the UK and France - both sides to launch independent investigations.

The UK, which has voting rights on the Council, is thought likely to abstain from the vote.

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  1. Toronto luxury homes16 October 2009 at 15:38

    I seriously doubt that self-investigations might solve anything. It's just postponing condemnations and in the end nobody will be help punished. I don't know, whether to agree, the UN report was biased, but clearly war crimes were committed by both Israeli and Palestinians and they should be put before the International Criminal Court. Elli

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