UN expert presents evidence of Israel’s genocidal actions against Palestinians
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In a damning report released Monday, Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, asserted that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe Israel has committed acts of genocide in its conflict with Gaza. Albanese's report, titled "Anatomy of a Genocide," accuses Israel of violating three of the five acts listed under the UN Genocide Convention.
Albanese's findings suggest that Israel's assault on Gaza, characterized by its overwhelming nature and scale, demonstrates an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group. The report accuses Israel of "killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to the group’s members, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction."
Israel rejected the report, dismissing it as an "obscene inversion of reality" and an attempt to undermine the Jewish State. Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva stated that the country's actions were aimed at combating Hamas, not Palestinian civilians. The report's accusations were labelled as "outrageous" by Israeli officials.
This isn't the first time Albania's report has faced backlash from Israel. Last month, Israel imposed a visa ban on Albanese after she made comments denying the anti-Semitic nature of an attack by Hamas that triggered the conflict.
Albanese's report also highlights Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians, alleging that it stems from a longstanding settler-colonial process of erasure. The report accuses Israel of treating all Palestinians and their infrastructure as "terrorist" or "terrorist-supporting," effectively making them targets or collateral damage.
South Africa has already filed a complaint against Israel before the International Court of Justice, alleging that its actions in Gaza violate the genocide convention. While the court has yet to rule on the matter, it previously ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocidal acts during its campaign and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
