To whomever's reading,

I've arranged this fact-check in order of descending severity of falsifications in the resolution's
text. So the discussion ranges from items that are unequivocally false to items that one might
describe as less-than-honorable attempts to spin things for voters, perhaps not so different from
the kind of deception or distortion you occasionally see in politics.

(1)
resulted in the deaths of over 1400 Gazans in a three week period, including over 900 civilians
and 168 civil police officers according to the International Federation of the Red Cross;

This figure does not come from the Red Cross or the Red Crescent society, neither from the
International Federation of the Red Cross or the International Red Cross Committee.

These figures [ see http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/19-2009.html ] are in fact

from a partisan group called the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which has
nothing to do with the Red Cross.

The Red Cross has not put out any statistics that I can find, in my extensive online searching
[ see for example, their reports on the area here:
http://www.ifrc.org/where/country/cn6.asp?countryid=205 ].

A sidenote: Of course—as usual in conflicts with organizations such as Hamas or

Hezbollah, who spend effort hiding their own casualties and inflating deaths of civilians
—if the Red Cross does eventually create its own estimates, they will be dramatically
lower than those mentioned. Israel has already put together a list of over 700 names of
dead known to be militants, and an Italian reporter is quoting Palestinian reporters as
saying, ""We have already said to Hamas commanders – why do you insist on inflating
the number of victims?" [ http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2009/01/28/cremonesi-
article-in-english ]

According to the advocacy group CAMERA, the PCHR's data lists as civilians a
disproportionate amount (75%) of young men age 15 - 40 compared to the percent in
the population (25%). [See
http://camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=118&x_article=1603 ] One Gazan
resident tells the Italian reporter: “The Hamas Militants looked for good places to
provoke the Israelis. They were usually youths, 16 or 17 years old, armed with
submachine guns. They couldn’t do anything against a tank or jet. They knew they were
much weaker. But they wanted the [Israelis] to shoot at the [the civilians’] houses so
they could accuse them of more war crimes”

It does a disservice to the McGill Community to falsely quote statistics as coming from a
reputable organization that they respect, when they actually come from an entirely different
organization with an obviously partisan agenda.

(2)
whereas 66 schools were damaged or destroyed, including 33 schools operated by the UNRWA
(United Nations Refugee Works Association),

The statistics about the schools are from a press release

[http://www.mezan.org/site_en/press_room/press_detail.php?id=953 ] that was published on
Electronic Intifada [ http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10194.shtml ] by an organization
called Al-Mezan. Although Al-Mezan is a human rights group for Palestinians, the group is so
partisan that its term for the Israeli military is "Israeli Occupation Forces." (Al-Mezan also seems
to use the phrase "targeting civilians" as a heading whenever any building that is not explicitly
military is directly hit by an Israeli airstrike.)

Their press release refers to the organization's count of schools but there are no documents on its
English website with the same numbers. Despite the claims of its own count, the press release
only mentions 3 schools by name, none of which they say were targeted. This google search
shows all Al-Mezan's mentions of the issue, none of which name more schools:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-
a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-
US%3Aofficial&hs=nqa&q=site%3Amezan.org+66+schools&btnG=Search&meta=lr%3Dlang_
en|lang_fr

However, even Al-Mezan's press release says that in regard to the schools damaged or destroyed
"Of those, seven schools were directly targeted." Because of how Al-Mezan broadly defines
"targeted," we know that their statistics say only 7 schools or their grounds were fired at by the
Israeli Army.

Note: I am putting aside the question of the actions of militants on school grounds when
the Israeli Army fired at the grounds. For example, see these YouTube clips for rocket
squads using school grounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN9WzUc7iB0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LGubwghyEw&feature=channel_page

Thus, the number of schools given in the resolution is not only uncorroborated by any other
source, but impossible to substantiate since only three names of damaged schools have been
publicly provided by the organization. Presenting this information as fact, without identifying
any source, does a disservice the students of McGill University.

The most realistic statistic we have now is ironically from a Hamas-run government body, Gaza's
Ministry of Education. It can use money from UNICEF and has told UNICEF that 7 schools of
Gaza's 621 schools were destroyed [ http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt_47592.html ] .
This would have been more appropriate information for the resolution text.

(3)
the Gaza Music School which was located in the Rd [sic] Crescent Society Building in Gaza City
and which was destroyed along with the entire building,
As we can see in this article,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&article_id=98985 ,
the building was damaged, not destroyed; it was a building across the street that was targeted and
hit.

(4)
And whereas institutions vital to Palestinian civil society such as hospitals […] were deliberate
targets destroyed by Israel bombings

No hospital is listed by the World Health Organization as "destroyed"—only one clinic—and

WHO is passing along the info from Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health. See [
http://www.who.int/entity/hac/crises/international/wbgs/sitreps/gaza_health_situation_19jan2009
_annex1.pdf ]

Furthermore, WHO lists only one hospital (Al-Quds) as "directly targeted"—in its assessment of
the info given them by the Hamas' Gaza Ministry of Health —but only its administrative
building. This is contrary to the resolution text's allusion to more than one hospital as deliberate
targets.

However, in regard to Al-Quds hospital, a Newsweek article

[ http://www.newsweek.com/id/180691/output/print ] supports Israel's story that there were
militants fired at them and a shell hit the administration building in the crossfire:

Asked if there were any militants firing from the hospital or the Red Crescent buildings,
hospital director general Dr. Khalid Judah chose his words carefully. "I am not able to say
if anyone was using the PRCS buildings [the two Palestine Red Crescent Society
buildings adjacent to the hospital], but I know for a fact that no one was using the
hospital." In the Tal-al Hawa neighborhood nearby, however, Talal Safadi, an official in
the leftist Palestinian People's Party, said that resistance fighters were firing from
positions all around the hospital.

(5)
United Nations funded compounds […] were deliberate targets destroyed by Israel bombings;

Not sure about the unusual phrase "United Nations funded compounds." The text seems to be
referring to two incidents:

One involves a UN compound and the other involves a UNRWA compound that contained a
school. In the latter case, it's become clear that neither the UN, UNRWA or Israel says the
compound was even hit—let alone a "deliberate target"—rather it was the street in front of the
compound.

This article
[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090129.wgazaschool29/BNStory/Int
ernational/home ] has flaws in its research of earlier published stories, but it gets the relevant
quote from the head of the UNRWA:

The 43 people who died in the incident were all outside, on the street, where all three mortar 
shells landed.

Stories of one or more shells landing inside the schoolyard were inaccurate.

While the killing of 43 civilians on the street may itself be grounds for investigation, it falls short of 
the act of shooting into a schoolyard crowded with refuge­seekers.

[…]

John Ging, UNRWA's operations director in Gaza, acknowledged in an interview this week that all 
three Israeli mortar shells landed outside the school and that "no one was killed in the school."

"I told the Israelis that none of the shells landed in the school," he said.

Why would he do that?

"Because they had told everyone they had returned fire from gunmen in the school. That wasn't 
true." [This is in fact not true. Israel said they identified the bodies of two gunmen with those of 
the civilians.]

Mr. Ging blames the Israelis for the confusion over where the victims were killed. "They even 
came out with a video that purported to show gunmen in the schoolyard. But we had seen it 
before," he said, "in 2007."

The Israelis are the ones, he said, who got everyone thinking the deaths occurred inside the 
school.

"Look at my statements," he said. "I never said anyone was killed in the school. Our officials never 
made any such allegation."

Speaking from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as the bodies were being brought in that night, an 
emotional Mr. Ging did say: "Those in the school were all families seeking refuge. ... There's 
nowhere safe in Gaza."

There was only one UN compound hit, contrary to the resolution's text. It was also not
"destroyed," nor does it seem to have been "bombed" (hit from the air), contrary to the
resolution's text. On Jan 16, a warehouse was hit by three tank shells, fortunately resulting in
only a few injuries and destroyed humanitarian supplies, which Israel itself had brought in.
Whether the building was targeted, and if so why, is a question. By this point, the UN or
UNRWA is not making that accusation, but has demanded an inquiry.
(6)
Islamic University of Gaza which was bombed, destroying the […] women’s building

The idea that the women's wing/building was targeted and hit appears to be a rumor some
reporters passed on though it was never true. At most, the women's wing received some degree
of secondary damage and certainly not "destroyed."

The University itself says only two science buildings were directly hit [ see their website:
http://www.iugaza.edu.ps/en/Media/News.aspx?NewsId=5381 ], and not the woman's building.
as does the BBC who was then on the scene [http://www.webcitation.org/5dPrKOjVe ]. Any
damage caused to the building where women study would seem to be from fire, and the building
was not "destroyed" as the resolution says.

(7)
Islamic University of Gaza which was bombed, destroying the library, science laboratories […]
even though Israel has produced no evidence of their claim that the university was ever used for
the research of development of Hamas weapons;

I'm not sure whether anyone actually requested evidence from Israel. It's open information that
the Islamic University in Gaza is thoroughly staffed and enrolled with members of Hamas'
militant wing. It's open information that IUG's chemical laboratories, one of which was in the
library building, were used for bomb-making, with no shortage of testimony about it. For
example, this article [http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=40480 ] interviews two
unrepentant Hamas fighters:

Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' so­called 
military wing, told WND Islamic University is regularly used by Hamas to support "resistance 
activities."

"It is no secret that we utilize all tools at our disposal, including our fighters at Islamic University in 
preparations to fight the Zionists," said Abu Abdullah of Hamas' Izzedine al­Qassam Martyrs 
Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department.

[…]

Abu Abir, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, a Hamas­affilated terror group, told 
WND Islamic University is "extremely important" for recruitment of militants. He said several 
members of his group study chemistry at the university to aid in the manufacture of explosives 
and suicide belts. The Committees is responsible for hundreds of rocket attacks from Gaza aimed 
at nearby Jewish cities.

In a Knight-Ridder/Tribune article, IUG's former president Kamalaan Shaath has said, "Islamic
University was established as any other university, but gradually it became Hamas." [see
http://www.redorbit.com/news/international/386870/islamic_university_is_the_intellectual_cente
r_for_hamas/index.html ] The article notes that DVDs celebrating terrorist martyrdom and
showing religious speeches by its militant members are sold on the school grounds.