Francesca
Albanese, special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories,
tells National Press Club many leaders are ‘muttering inaudible words of
condemnation’
A
United Nations expert has accused Australia and other western
governments of paralysis over the Israel-Gaza crisis, saying leaders are
either “muttering inaudible words of condemnation” or staying silent in
fear.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special
rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a speech in
Canberra on Tuesday that “violence begets violence” and warned that
Palestinian children were being left “without hope” for their future.
She
also argued that under international law, Israel “cannot claim the
right of self-defence against a threat that emanates from the territory
it occupies – from a territory that is kept under belligerent
occupation”. Israel disputes the characterisation Gaza is occupied, although the Australian government has said it recognises that “the occupation continues”.
Albanese has previously been accused of bias
by Israel, a charge she denies. The Israeli government has long
demanded Albanese’s dismissal and refused to cooperate with her,
contending that her language was symptomatic of an anti-Israeli mindset
that underplayed the country’s legitimate security concerns.
The
Italian lawyer told the National Press Club on Tuesday that Israel’s
response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October was not proportionate, and
described the order to 1.1 million people to flee northern Gaza as
“absurd” because there was nowhere safe to go.
With
the death toll in Gaza rising above 11,000, she said Israel was
“clearly incapable” of respecting the international humanitarian law
principle of distinguishing between civilians and combatants.
Albanese
said the international community was “almost completely paralysed” in
its response, while the UN was “experiencing its most epic political and
humanitarian failure since its creation”.
“Individual
member states, especially in the west and Australia is no exception,
are on the margins, muttering inaudible words of condemnation for
Israel’s excesses at best – or staying silent in fear of restraining
Israel’s self-proclaimed right to self-defence, whatever it means,” she
said.
“So here is where we are, staring into
the abyss where the Palestinians face most the significant existential
threat and – in a different way – the Israelis, especially Israeli Jews
as well, as a society informed by human values that are getting lost as
the country gets enveloped in genocidal cries.”
Albanese,
who has a master of laws in human rights, was appointed last year to be
the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
Albanese
said the international community had “so epically failed to promote
peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis”, which she argued
would be “premised upon international law, the end of Israel’s
56-year-old occupation and the realisation of Palestinian
self-determination and freedom”.
The
Australian government has repeatedly affirmed Israel’s right to defend
itself, but has said the manner in which it does so matters.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has condemned Hamas
as a “craven terrorist group that has burrowed itself in civilian
infrastructure”. Wong also warned Israel that the world would not accept
ongoing civilian deaths and has called for the observation of
international law.
When asked about this
stance, Francesca Albanese said: “This is what I call amnesia and myopia
and living in an alternative reality because before 7 October there was
already plenty of evidence of violations of international law.”
Albanese said since 1967 Israel had “built 300 colonies” – or settlements – in the occupied Palestinian territories, which she described as war crimes that violated article 49 of the Geneva conventions.
Albanese
also said Gaza had long been under blockade, “which was a war crime, a
collective punishment on the entire Palestinian population”. Israel says
the blockade is for its own security, citing repeated Hamas rocket
attacks and incursions.
Pressed
on Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas attacks in which more than
1,200 people were killed, she said that “in common language self-defence
might be understood as the right to protect oneself, which Israel
clearly has”.
But she said that article 51 of
the UN charter was “not just the right to protect itself, it is
self-defence under international law – it is a legal term of art”.
She
said Israel was not threatened by another state, but by “an armed group
within the occupied territory”. Israel disputes that Gaza has been
occupied since it withdrew its troops and evicted 9,000 settlers in
2005. Critics argue Israel’s control of Gaza’s borders and other government functions amount to continued occupation.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, told the National Press Club last month
that the world must not “look away” from the atrocities committed by
Hamas on 7 October. He said Israel was “absolutely” complying with
international humanitarian law.
Albanese ended her speech by saying “ending Jewish Israeli domination would be a re-humanising act for them as well”.
Asked
whether it was helpful to use language about “ending Jewish Israeli
domination”, she responded: “I wonder whether it is helpful to pretend
that apartheid doesn’t exist, because this is what we are talking
about.”
Albanese cited the international
convention on apartheid, which defines it as “inhuman acts committed for
the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial
group of persons over any other racial group of persons and
systematically oppressing them”.
“I said
domination, not existence,” Albanese said. “If we are unable to envisage
Jewish Israelis living without being on top of the other, I think this
is a problem.”
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International have concluded in recent years that Israel has
“perpetrated the international wrong of apartheid” against Palestinians.
The Israeli government strongly dismissed such claims as being “divorced from reality”.