The House has approved a non-binding measure denouncing a UN inquiry for accusing Israel of committing war crimes in its assault on the Gaza Strip. The inquiry, headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, also accused Hamas of war crimes and urged both sides to investigate the charges or face international prosecution. But the House measure dismissed the Goldstone report as “irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy.” It also calls on the Obama administration to “strongly and unequivocally oppose” discussion of the report’s findings in any international setting. The resolution passed by a margin of 344-to-46. Before the vote, activists confronted the measure’s co-sponsor, Democratic Congress member Howard Berman. Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK said Berman is afraid to hear Goldstone’s findings.

Medea Benjamin: “We have been calling on Congress to let Judge Goldstone come and brief Congress. And Congressman Berman has been afraid to have him come to do that. And that’s one of the other things that we asked. We said, ’Don’t vote now. Let Congress have a chance to hear directly from Judge Goldstone.’ Judge Goldstone is a preeminent lawyer, internationally respected, has his daughter living in Israel, calls himself a Zionist. I mean, he’s the perfect person to do this report. And to just poo-poo the whole thing and try to push it under the rug is really criminal. And Congressman Berman is afraid to hear from Judge Goldstone.”

The UN General Assembly is expected to take up the Goldstone report later today.