Israel has called on the United Nations to retract the Goldstone Report on the 2008-2009 
Israeli assault on Gaza after its author backtracked from some crucial findings. 
Judge Richard Goldstone chaired a fact-finding mission which said both Israel and Hamas were guilty of war crimes in the conflict.
In an editorial in the Washington Post on Friday, Judge Richard Goldstone said, quote, 
Goldstone - "Civilians were not intentionally targeted [by Israel] as a matter of policy." 
This claim stands in direct contradiction with what Judge Goldstone said when the findings were first revealed:
Goldstone - We detail a number of specific incidents 
Goldstone - in which Israeli forces launched direct attacks against civilians with lethal consequences. 
Goldstone - These were, with only one exception, where the facts established that there was no military objective or advantage that could justify the attacks.
About 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis were killed in the devastating conflict. 
Israel launched Operation Cast Lead with the aim of ending cross-border rocket fire from Palestinian militants.
The three co-panelists of the U.N. probe into the 2008-2009 Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip 
are rejecting the retraction by Judge Richard Goldstone, of the report’s key finding. 
Earlier this month, Goldstone said that he no longer thinks Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians in its three-week assault.
In a statement, the three co-panelists, Hina Jilani of Pakistan, Desmond Travers of Ireland, and Christine Chinkin of Britain, write: 
"[We] find it necessary to dispel any impression"
"that subsequent developments have rendered any part of the mission’s report unsubstantiated, erroneous or inaccurate." They continue:
"Had we given in to pressures from any quarter to sanitize our conclusions,"
"we would be doing a serious injustice to the hundreds of innocent civilians killed during the Gaza conflict,"
"the thousands injured, and the hundreds of thousands whose lives continue to be deeply affected by the conflict and the blockade." they wrote.
Newly disclosed diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal 
that the Obama administration led a vigorous campaign to stymie an independent U.N. investigation 
into possible war crimes committed by Israel during its assault on Gaza in 2008 and 2009. 
The campaign was led by Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 
According to the magazine Foreign Policy, Rice issued a veiled warning in one cable to the president of the International Criminal Court. 
Rice warned that an investigation into alleged Israeli crimes could damage the ICC’s standing with the U.S.
at a time when the new administration was moving closer to the tribunal.
