Justice Goldstone has claimed that the mandate of the Mission was changed, unilaterally, by the then-President of the Council. However, as a matter of law, the only body with the legal authority to modify the Mandate is the Council itself, and it has never done so.
Additionally, it should be noted that even the so-called changed mandate focused on events in Gaza, between the dates December 27, 2008 and January 1, 2009, effectively ruling out any attention to the years in which thousands of missiles were fired on civilians Israel prior to the start of the military operation.
Finally, even if were the Mission to operate according to new and different terms of reference of its own devising, all subsequent proceedings by the Council following its report would still be based on the Council's own biased Resolution and Mandate.