(September 17, 2024 / JNS) Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights who has a long history of antisemitic statements, said during a press conference on Monday that the Jewish state is accused of six kinds of offenses in Gaza.

Israel’s efforts to root out the Hamas terror organization in the Strip, according to Albanese, have led to allegations of “domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide and more recently ecocide,” she said, of the destruction of homes, cities and education, respectively. 

“Medicide” typically refers to physician-assisted suicide, but Albanese appeared to mean the destruction of medicine. “Ecocide” refers to attacks on the environment.

Albanese’s remarks, which ran about seven minutes, addressed what critics of the Jewish state say is an escalation of violence and human-rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. 

The special rapporteur, who is not subject to U.N. oversight, has repeatedly attempted to justify terrorism against Israel. The French government denounced her claim that Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack was not based on its hatred for Jews, with Paris calling Albanese’s comments “scandalous” and “a disgrace.” The German government said her remarks were “appalling.”

The Israeli mission to the United Nations in Geneva slammed Albanese’s statements on Monday. 

“Francesca Albanese is well-known for abusing her inherently discriminatory U.N. mandate to spread her hate-filled political agenda, antisemitism and disinformation,” the mission stated. 

“Her attitude, including defending and justifying Hamas’s actions, is a constant stain on the United Nations,” it added. “She is not fit to hold any position at the United Nations, and this has been made clear by many.” 

The mission said that the United Nations should “no longer provide a veil of legitimacy to such an individual.”

The United Nations said Albanese is under investigation for a trip to Australia and New Zealand last November that was organized by pro-Palestinian lobbying groups, some with direct ties to Hamas. 

Albanese’s itinerary and public reports, along with a private document that was later uncovered, suggest that she used the trip to raise funds for a pro-Palestinian lobbying group, to assail Israel in various media appearances and to lobby politicians and a New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel.

After months of questions about who paid for the trip, the United Nations in July admitted that it covered the trip. It has not responded to multiple JNS queries, including requests to provide any proof of that payment at the time. A pro-Palestinian lobbying group claimed at first that it sponsored the trip, estimated to cost more than $20,000.

The U.N. internal investigative unit opened a case on June 26, based on the financial impropriety allegations against Albanese. It is unclear who ordered the investigation; U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s office denied that he is responsible for it.

Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to whom the case was referred, handed it over to the coordination committee for special procedures, which is comprised of Albanese’s colleagues.

The committee issued a statement on May 16 defending unnamed “U.N. human rights experts” from attacks, including “unfounded allegations of misuse of resources and claims of bias and unprofessional conduct intended to damage reputations, on social media, during U.N. meetings and even when experts are on official country visits.”

The committee didn’t name Albanese but stated that “our colleagues addressing the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel face severe targeting in social media and baseless accusations that question their integrity and motivations.” Albanese’s mandate covers that region.

JNS has sought comment multiple times from a U.N. spokesperson responsible for the U.N.’s special procedures.

Merav Marks, a senior legal adviser in Israel’s Foreign Ministry, addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, rejecting assertions made by Arrojo-Agudo—one of the special rapporteurs—and some delegations about Israel’s provision of water to Gaza.

“Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and water management was fully handed over to the Palestinians,” Marks said. “Since its takeover, Hamas has completely mismanaged water in Gaza and is responsible for the irreversible damage to 95% of natural water resources.”

She said that Hamas published its own footage of its operatives digging out water pipes in Gaza and converting them into rockets to be used to attack Israel.

“I wonder what the Palestinian delegation thinks of this practice? Do they care to condemn it?” Marks said.

Marks also told the council that Hamas’s Oct. 7 rocket onslaught destroyed a water pipeline running from Israel to Gaza. Israel fixed the pipeline while under Hamas fire, she said.

PHOTO: Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur, briefs reporters at U.N. headquarters. Credit: Loey Felipe/U.N. Photo