• A joint statement from the Israeli foreign minister and Israeli interior minister states that Francesca Albanese will be banned from entry
• Prohibition comes after Francesca described the October 7th attacks as a ‘response to Israel’s oppression’
On Monday, Israel banned the entry of the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories. Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel claimed in a joint statement that ‘the era of jews being silent is over’ and “If the UN wants to return to being a relevant body, its leaders must publicly disavow the anti-Semitic words of the ‘Special Envoy’ – and fire her permanently.” So what did UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese say that provoked such an uproar among Israeli politicians?
Albanese was accused by Israeli officials of justifying the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israeli towns and villages around Gaza. She said as a response to Emmanuel Macron’s honouring of Israelis killed by the attack that, “The ‘greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century’? No, Mr. Emmanuel Macron. The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims.” Here it is clear that Francesca Albanese did not blame the victims but rather gave sympathy to them. It was the government and the governmental actions against Gaza before October 7 that she had indicated were the reason for the offensive. This is something believed and acknowledged by people and politicians across the Muslim and Middle Eastern worlds, but it is still yet to be imprinted onto the international stage as a valid opinion.
After the Israeli government had given its verdict in barring Francesca from entry, Francesca took to Twitter to voice her opinions. She said, “Israel’s “denying me entry” is not news: Israel has denied entry to ALL Special Rapporteurs/oPt since 2008! This must not become a distraction from Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, which are taking a new level of horror with the bombing of people in ‘safe areas’ in #Rafah.” This decision by Israel comes after Israel had already revoked the residence visa of UN Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hastings in December last year. It’s possible that after western nations put a halt on aid to Gaza, the government felt emboldened to take more action against UN officials who were still expected to enter Israel.
Israel’s actions show it has no intention of stopping its ongoing genocide
After more than 28 thousand Palestinians were killed in Gaza, with the entirety of Gaza in a state of starvation, and now Israel is preventing access to key UN officials who are responsible for trying to help in negotiations, it becomes evident that Israel does not really want peace nor has done anything to show it does. A nation whose majority supports a genocide in Gaza with a government that is even unafraid to do things against the wishes of its allies. With a media that is continuing to push its people into sympathising with the IDF’s genocidal actions and showing no signs of stopping, it is evident that Israel is both institutionally and socio-economically a genocidal-supporting state and therefore falls into a realm greater than that of a terror state.
