WASHINGTON (CI MENA) — The United Nations special rapporteur chief on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of committing “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza while only criticizing in passing the mass atrocities of Hamas while speaking last week at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

[United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, Francesca Albanese, speaks to Capitol Intelligence/CI MENA using CI Glass on her statement of Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza during an Arab Center event at the National Press Club of Washington DC on October 18, 2023]

Albanese seemingly ignored the fact Hamas’ slaughter of over 1300 civilians and taking hostages some 203 Israelis is the equivalent of ten 9/11 attacks on the United States and the single deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and the reasons behind President Joe Biden mission to Israel, the second time Biden has visited a war zone since Kyiv.  Biden is said to be the first president to visit an active war zone while in office.

Citing legal scholars, and in apparent agreement, Albanese said that Israel’s ongoing reprisal on the deadly October 7 massacre can legally be defined as genocide.

“There are number of authoritative scholars that have come out already warning about the risk of genocide. Genocidal statements have been issued throughout the year and I took note of that because I was seriously alarmed by the heighten levels of verbal violence, dehumanizing of violence because we have seen it elsewhere and we all know what it means,” she told the audience at the Press Club.

When questioned by a reporter, Albanese denied she accused Israel of genocide but did reiterate that Israel practices ethnic cleansing by removing Palestinians from their homes and historic lands.
During her speech, she also claimed that Israel’s response to the ISIS like attack on civilians, that include accusations of rape and baby beheading, is not proportional.

Instead, Albanese accused Israel of “violating all international norms” in its Operation Iron Sword response to Hamas and complained that use of “de-colonization” arguments against Israel had been dampened by the 9/11 attack on the United States on September 11. 2001.

[UN’s Francesca Albanese filmed by Capitol Intel/CI MENA making controversial statement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on October 18, 2023]

She also criticized European nations for suppressing pro-Palestinian protests notwithstanding the fact the Hamas is formally designated as a terrorist organization by most developed democracies.

Albanese also indicated she supported the Jewish Voices for Peace demonstration, a leftist fringe group founded Noam Chomsky, that ended up illegally occupying the Cannon House Office Building while she was talking at the National Press Club.

Jewish Voices for Peace supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement against companies investing in Israel/Palestine, with its most high-profile supporter, the ex-Pink Floyd member, Roger Waters.

She also claimed Israel’s decision to enforce a total blockade of the Gaza Strip was tantamount to “intentional starvation, and that intentional starvation is a crime against humanity” of the some 2.3 million people living in the area almost the size of Washington, DC.

Shockingly, she even claimed Israel’s “brutal” response to Hamas is in the Jewish DNA, and that 18-year-old Israeli military conscripts are raised not to see Palestinians as people.

“There is a wonderful author who has studied how Palestinian are dehumanized in Israeli textbooks and in society. And she argues that this is a critical element allows the disconnect when an Israeli 18-year-old wears a uniform and goes to West Bank and the Gaza border. He or she doesn’t necessarily see children. They are raised thinking that Palestinians are the enemy, they want to kill them all, exterminate them all,” she said, adding.

“I do think we need to recognize that is related to the Israeli and Jewish people that have been suffering, prosecution for centuries. There is a fear that is almost guilty to their DNA and this does not justify what is happening [in Gaza]. Those who do not have their flesh and blood in the situation have to able to advise and be grounded in wisdom and be even handed,” she said.

In fact, Israeli military conscripts loathe to be sent on border duty in Gaza and the West Bank because of the agrravation and thankless nature of the job. Ambitious Israelis compete for positions in the elite military units where they are unlikely to have any one-on-one dealings with Palestinians or Israeli settlers.

Western diplomats and Palestinians themselves criticize Albanese for not differentiating the situation in the West Bank, which is ruled by an elected government — notwithstanding no new presidential elections since 2005 — and Gaza.

“Gaza is a criminal dictatorship run by Hamas since 2007. They have absolute control and tolerate no dissent,” said an Israeli-Arab corporate lawyer working in Tel Aviv said, who wished to remain anonymous fearing retaliation from extremists.

The Israeli government has long called for the removal of Albanese, claiming the southern Italian lawyer’s bias against Israel makes her unfit to carry out her duties to objectively categorize real and alleged human rights in the West Bank and Gaza.

Also, a bipartisan group of 18 members of the US Congress also called on the UN to fire Albanese “as her biased behaviors should have no place at the United Nations, and clearly demonstrate the lack of impartiality.”

Switzerland’s Ambassador to the United States, Jacques Pitteloud, said Albanese’s statement are completely unacceptable on all levels and that one cannot put the atrocities of Hamas and action by Israel on the same level and that nothing “justifies this kind of terroristic attack.” Pitteloud also noted that Switzerland is the birthplace and keeper of the Geneva Convention, the treaty that became the foundation of international humanitarian law and governs the rules of war.

Pitteloud’s statements are important not only for Switzerland’s neutrality but as the host country for United Nations’ High Commission of Human Rights, the Geneva-based organization Albanese paycheck.

Ambassador Pitteloud said he was also surprised that Albanese co-authored a report on October 19 all but blaming Israel for the deaths of 470 people for the bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza when US and European intelligence concluded that the bombing was caused by errant rocket by The Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that the final death toll was between 50 to 100 people, not the 500 claimed by Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

“UN experts today expressed outrage against the deadly strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, which killed more than 470 civilians on Tuesday (17) and trapped hundreds under the rubble. The strike reportedly followed two warnings issued by Israel that an attack on the hospital was imminent if people inside were not evacuated,” Albanese said in a report she co-authored on October 19.

Farhan Aziz Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said the UN does “not comment on the work of independent experts such as Ms. Albanese.” It seems the UN itself is distancing itself from Albanese.

Influential Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Ramallah say Albanese’s crusade to defend Palestinian right to resist Israel has also made her blind to equally serious human right violations by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza and human rights abuse by the ruling Fatah movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Also, Western diplomats and Palestinians themselves criticize Albanese for not differentiating the situation in the West Bank, which is ruled by an elected government — notwithstanding no new presidential elections since 2005 — and Gaza.

They also not that Albanese has paid almost no attention on human rights violation committed by the governing Fatah movement in the West Bank and the Hamas in Gaza.

Albanese also seemed to be upset when Hamas is compared to transnational organized crime outfits like the Sicilian mafia of Toto Riina and the Mexican drug cartels run by now imprisoned Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman rather than a resistance movement.

Albanese has already sparked protest in the Jewish community of Australia for her planned talk to the National Press Club of Canberra as part of a fund raiser hosted by Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), with tickets fetching between AUD$60 to AUD$120 a pop.

Today’s luncheon speech by Albanese was hosted by the Arab Center, a Washington DC think-thank on Middle East issues, at no charge for attendees. including a staffer for US Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan).

It would seem UN ethics rules are even more flexible than the United States Supreme Court that bar justices from attending any event with the purpose of fund raising.

By PK Semler in Washington, DC and Annapolis, Maryland.  For more information, email pks@capitolintelgroup.comCopyright of Capitol Intelligence Group – Turning Swords into Equity®