(IsraelNN.com) The secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, claimed in a recent interview that his group was responsible for “initiating” the Goldstone report. The United Nations Goldstone Report accused Israel of war crimes and was harshly critical of Israeli policy vis-a-vis Arabs in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, particularly in connection to Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

"On January 3, during the attacks on Gaza, we convened the executive committee of the OIC on a ministerial level. It was decided that the OIC group in Geneva should ask the Human Rights Council to convene and consider the possibility of sending a fact-finding mission to Gaza,” Ihsanoglu told Al-Jazeera. "The OIC was instrumental in getting through this resolution."

Several of the member states belonging to the UN Human Rights Council are also members of the OIC.

Did Not Question Israeli Officials
Israel decided not to cooperate with the UN investigation due to concerns that the investigative committee was heavily biased against Israel and the IDF. The committee continued its investigation without questioning Israeli officials, and based its findings almost exclusively on testimony from Gaza Arabs and from extreme-left European Union-backed groups in Israel such as Yesh Din and B'Tselem.

Ihsanoglu said the OIC hopes to stay involved in the Goldstone Report process. “The OIC and the international community should work hand-in-hand to implement the proposals made in the Goldstone report,” he said.