Israel denounces UN expert who accused it of ‘genocide’

Israel’s UN ambassador on Wednesday called for the resignation of UN independent expert Francesca Albanase, who has denounced the “eradication of Palestinians” from their land through “genocide.”

Danny Danon posted on X, formerly Twitter, to call for the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories to step down immediately.

He made the call after Albanese told a committee at the UN General Assembly that developments in recent months “cement my assessment that Israel is conducting a genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.”

“Once again, the UN has rolled out the red carpet for one of the most anti-Semitic figures in modern history, granting her a stage to spew baseless propaganda and lies,” Danon wrote.

Addressing Albanese directly, he added: “Your presence at the UN is a disgrace, a betrayal of all moral standards. Resign immediately. Leave your credentials at the door and join your friends at Hamas and Hezbollah, where you belong.”

Albanese has long faced harsh criticism, allegations of anti-Semitism and demands for her removal, from Israel and some of its allies, over her longstanding accusations of genocide.

She has previously said the offensive Israel unleashed after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks was “part of a long-term international, systematic state-organised forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians.”

UN special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council. They do not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.

Albanese also defended herself at a press conference Wednesday.

“I really don’t feel comfortable at entertaining any longer discussions concerning the attacks against me, because it’s not about me, and I’m not the story. The story is the fact that there are Palestinians who risk to be erased from their land,” she said.

She called the United States an “enabler in what Israel has been doing.”

US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield posted on X that Albanese is “unfit for her role.”

“The United Nations should not tolerate anti-Semitism from a UN-affiliated official hired to promote human rights,” she wrote.

Earlier Wednesday, Israel’s Geneva UN mission also denounced Albanese, saying in a statement that: “According to her hate-filled paradigm, the state of Israel has no historic reason to exist, no right to defend its population, and both the attack of October 7 and the rescue of hostages are merely used by Israel as an excuse.

“This distorted reality is a smokescreen to hide her hatred for Israel.”

It accused her of being a “political activist who abuses an already discriminatory UN mandate,” and of “regularly spewing anti-Semitism, shielding and encouraging terrorism, and distorting the law.

“As a UN mandate holder, she has breached every possible rule of the UN code of conduct. She must immediately be held accountable for her continuous abuses,” it said.

On October 7 last year, Hamas militants attacked inside Israel resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.

The attacks on Albanese came after she wrote in a report released Tuesday: “The genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land so integral to their identity, and which is illegally and openly coveted by Israel.

“Since its establishment, Israel has treated the occupied people as a hated encumbrance and threat to be eradicated, subjecting millions of Palestinians, for generations, to everyday indignities, mass killing, mass incarceration, forced displacement, racial segregation and apartheid.”

Israel’s long-thorny relationship with the UN has also worsened since the Gaza war started.