GENEVA: Outspoken UN rights expert Francesca Albanese reiterated on Tuesday that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, alleging that the country aims to “eradicate Palestinians” from their land.
“Today, the genocide of the Palestinians appears to be a means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land that is integral to their identity, which Israel illegally covets,” Albanese stated in a new report.
As the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Albanese has faced significant criticism and allegations of anti-Semitism from Israel and some of its allies due to her consistent accusations of “genocide.” While she was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, she does not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
Albanese charged that the offensive launched by Israel was part of a long-term, systematic effort to forcibly displace and replace Palestinians. “The Gaza genocide is a tragedy foretold, and one that risks expanding to other Palestinians under Israeli rule,” she wrote in her report, dated October 1 but made public only on Tuesday.
The report asserts that since its establishment, Israel has treated the occupied population as a burden to be eliminated, subjecting millions of Palestinians to enduring indignities, mass killings, mass incarceration, forced displacement, racial segregation, and apartheid.
It concludes that the current war further advances Israel’s political ambitions for sovereignty over the entirety of former Mandatory Palestine.
AFP has reached out for comment from Israel’s mission in Geneva.
