Speaking, to an overflow crowd of academics, students and others at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Francesca Albanese, is a UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories of Palestine, began, as she had posted on her X account the day before, “the entire population of Gaza is at risk of dying in a genocide that has been announced and executed under our watch.” She is in the United States to present her newly updated report, “Genocide as Colonial Erasure,” to the UN. She had no qualms at telling the audience that genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem is due to the complicity of Israel, the U.S., and Western European nations. Her point was clear that the world—both governments and the populations—which tolerate the on-going genocide reaps lawlessness.
Israelis and Palestinians had lived side-by-side for generations. It is only due to “military law” imposed on Palestinians that, in the first 16 months of her duties as Special Rapporteur, “only” 467 Palestinians were killed prior to October 7, 2023. Now, in one year’s time thousands and thousands are dead. She recounted that on October 14, 2023, “I warned” that Israel would use this incident to forcibly take the lands of Palestine. This is when she insisted that “violence breeds violence.”
Overall, her 45-minute presentation documented the needless, agonizing scenes from Gaza. Albanese remarked that Israelis do have a right to protect themselves as delineated in Article 51 of the UN Charter. And, she quipped, “Israel does face threats from the occupied territories. So, end the occupation!”
“This war should have been stopped months ago, [based] on law,” a reference to the International Court of Justice’s January 26, 2024 opinion, and follow-on finding July 19, that, by the law, Israel’s occupation is “unlawful.” Ms. Albanese’s directed anger on this point was aimed at a “world tolerating this lawlessness.”
