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.”

      • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        19 hours ago

        Translated by Firefox…

        “I condemn” the raid in the editorial staff of La Stampa in Turin but “this must also be a warning to the press to return to do their job, to bring the facts back to the center of the new work and, if they can afford it, even a minimum of analysis and contextualization”

        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.

        • NomNom@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          14
          ·
          edit-2
          17 hours ago

          “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.

            • NomNom@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              15 hours ago

              She isn’t a sacred figure. She is not the living embodiment of Palestine.

              Don’t confuse a cause and individuals.

            • NomNom@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              1 hour ago

              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 violently punch you in the face.

              It doesn’t work like that.