Current and former United Nations staffers have spoken out in defence of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, after she faced attacks from a pro-Israeli NGO and several European government officials.
Albanese – who, like all special rapporteurs, is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but is not a UN staff member – has been subjected to repeated attacks from pro-Israeli figures and bodies, with one of the most fervent critics being UN Watch, a pro-Israel NGO.
The UN Watch, which is not a UN body, spread an edited clip of Albanese, 48, speaking at the Doha Forum earlier this month, in which the NGO falsely said she had called Israel “the common enemy of humanity”.
Albanese’s actual words were: “We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy and the respect of fundamental freedoms is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom.”
I have added two.
Translated by Firefox…
Seems reasonable to me. Condemning the attack itself but also calling out the fact that the rightwing press is facilitating the genocide and should maybe fucking stop doing that.
“I’m not racist, but”
“I’m not homophobic, but”
“I condemn an attack on a newspaper, but”
There is nothing reasonable about her statement.
You don’t attack and vandalize newspapers. Period. Her claims are also clearly false. La Stampa is a quality newspaper and their coverage has highlighted Israeli crimes.
“I’m all for defending Palestinians, but”
cough, cough
She isn’t a sacred figure. She is not the living embodiment of Palestine.
Don’t confuse a cause and individuals.
But are they newspapers, or political propaganda units promoting violence and murder?
La Stampa is promoting murder and violence? 🔪🩸
Really? That’s completely illegal under Italian law.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
I can’t just scream “I think you are a pedophile” then punch you in the face. It doesn’t work like that.