UN adviser says Israel accused of ‘domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, ecocide’ in Gaza
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian rights who has a long history of antisemitic statements, said during a press conference on Monday that the Jewish state is accused of six kinds of offences in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese
Israel’s efforts to root out the Hamas terror organization in the Strip, according to Albanese, have led to allegations of “domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide and more recently ecocide,” she said, of the destruction of homes, cities and education, respectively.
“Medicide” typically refers to physician-assisted suicide, but Albanese appeared to mean the destruction of medicine. “Ecocide” refers to attacks on the environment.
Albanese’s remarks, which ran about seven minutes, addressed what critics of the Jewish state say is an escalation of violence and human rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.
The special rapporteur, who is not subject to U.N. oversight, has repeatedly attempted to justify terrorism against Israel. The French government denounced her claim that Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack was not based on its hatred for Jews, with Paris calling Albanese’s comments “scandalous” and “a disgrace.” The German government said her remarks were “appalling.”
A U.S. State Department spokesman previously told JNS that Foggy Bottom opposed Albanese’s mandate, adding that “we can’t help but note a history of incendiary comments online and in her public statements.”
Albanese was joined at the press conference in Geneva by three other U.N. special rapporteurs: Tlaleng Mofokeng (“on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”), George Katrougalos (“on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order”) and Pedro Arrojo-Agudo (“on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation”).
U.N. Human Rights Council appoints the dozens of special rapporteurs, who work on a volunteer basis and are considered “human rights experts.” The advisers operate outside the standards to which U.N. officials are held. They do not officially speak for the United Nations, although they are often referred to as “U.N. experts” in news reports.
An Italian lawyer based in Tunisia, Albanese said on Monday that most U.N. member states “remained inactive at best” or were “actively aiding and assisting Israel’s criminal conduct.”
She clarified that she was referring to Western nations, as well as other unnamed countries, including in the Gulf.
Albanese, who started a public campaign to “UNseat Israel” and push it out of the global body, asked at the press conference, “Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organization which Israel seems to have zero respect for?”
Katrougalos, one of the other special rapporteurs, joined her in condemning Israeli officials for criticizing the United Nations.
The Jewish state has said often, sometimes more forcefully than others, that the global body has failed to mention the hostages, whom Hamas holds in Gaza, sufficiently and that it has seemed to justify Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack. Israel has also said that the United Nations compares Israel, a democratic state, and Hamas, an internationally-designated terror group.
“I hope that it is not going to continue,” Katrougalos said, of Israeli criticism of the global body. “I trust that the progressive and democratic citizens of Israel would not let their country become a pariah like South Africa had become during the times of apartheid.”
The Israeli mission to the United Nations in Geneva slammed Albanese’s statements on Monday.
“Francesca Albanese is well-known for abusing her inherently discriminatory U.N. mandate to spread her hate-filled political agenda, antisemitism and disinformation,” the mission stated.
“Her attitude, including defending and justifying Hamas’s actions, is a constant stain on the United Nations,” it added. “She is not fit to hold any position at the United Nations, and this has been made clear by many.”
The mission said that the United Nations should “no longer provide a veil of legitimacy to such an individual.”
The United Nations said Albanese is under investigation for a trip to Australia and New Zealand last November that was organized by pro-Palestinian lobbying groups, some with direct ties to Hamas.
Albanese’s itinerary and public reports, along with a private document that was later uncovered, suggest that she used the trip to raise funds for a pro-Palestinian lobbying group, to assail Israel in various media appearances and to lobby politicians and a New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel.
After months of questions about who paid for the trip, the United Nations in July admitted that it covered the trip. It has not responded to multiple JNS queries, including request to provide any proof of that payment at the time. A pro-Palestinian lobbying group claimed at first that it sponsored the trip, estimated to cost more than $20,000.
The U.N. internal investigative unit opened a case on June 26, based on the financial impropriety allegations against Albanese. It is unclear who ordered the investigation, and U.N. secretary-general António Guterres’s office denied that he is responsible for it.
Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to whom the case was referred, handed it over to the coordination committee for special procedures, which is comprised of Albanese’s colleagues.
The committee issued a statement on May 16 defending unnamed “U.N. human rights experts” from attacks, including “unfounded allegations of misuse of resources and claims of bias and unprofessional conduct intended to damage reputations, on social media, during U.N. meetings and even when experts are on official country visits.”
The committee didn’t name Albanese but stated that “our colleagues addressing the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel face severe targeting in social media and baseless accusations that question their integrity and motivations.” Albanese’s mandate covers that region.
JNS has sought comment multiple times from a U.N. spokesperson responsible for the U.N.’s special procedures.
Merav Marks, a senior legal adviser in Israel’s Foreign Ministry, addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, rejecting assertions made by Arrojo-Agudo—one of the special rapporteurs—and some delegations about Israel’s provision of water to Gaza.
“Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and water management was fully handed over to the Palestinians,” Marks said. “Since its takeover, Hamas has completely mismanaged water in Gaza and is responsible for the irreversible damage to 95% of natural water resources.”
She said that Hamas published its own footage of its operatives digging out water pipes in Gaza and converting them into rockets to be used to attack Israel.
“I wonder what the Palestinian delegation thinks of this practice? Do they care to condemn it?” Marks said.
Marks also told the council that Hamas’s Oct. 7 rocket onslaught destroyed a water pipeline running from Israel to Gaza. Israel fixed the pipeline while under Hamas fire, she said.
JNS
