UN

A UN rapporteur urged the suspension of Israel’s UN membership on Wednesday, citing repeated violations of international law and the occupation of Palestinian territories. “I do believe that the impunity that has been granted to Israel has allowed it to become a serial violator of international law,” Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, said at a news conference. Albanese said she recommends that the General Assembly consider the suspension of Israel’s credential as a member of the UN until it ends violating international laws and withdraws the occupation, which she said is “clearly unlawful.” She said the creation of the Israeli state “came at a huge price for the Palestinians” and it has never been addressed, and that since 1967, Palestinians have been increasingly segregated and repressed. “Israel, in the pursuit of realizing Greater Israel, is attempting to reduce physically or spiritually … the presence of the Palestinian identity in the occupied Palestinian territory,” he said, adding that 75% of Gaza’s population are refugees. “They’re not from Gaza. They’re from modern-day Israel and therefore the presence is a continuous reminder for Israel of what I call its original sin, in fact, that its creation doesn’t matter the justification behind it,” she said. Albanese said Israel has no right to be in the occupied Palestinian territory. “The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to withdraw, unconditionally, totally, rapidly as possible its military presence, dismantling the colonies, stopping the seizing the exploitation of natural resources on the occupied Palestinian territory and making also reparations,” Albanese added. Albanese issued a report earlier this week that accused Israel of a systematic campaign of forced displacement, destruction and acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. In the report submitted to the UN General Assembly, Albanese described the “long-term, intentional, state-organized forced displacement and replacement” of Palestinians, particularly following the escalation of violence after Oct. 7, 2023. The report focused on “genocidal intent, contextualizing the situation within a decades-long process of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing aimed at liquidating the Palestinian presence in Palestine.” Regarding attacks against Albanese because of the report, she said special rapporteurs get attacked when they scrutinize the human rights records of member states. “What it seems in the case of Israel is (that) there is a cohort who echoes and reverberates what Israel says and does, and there is an army of minions at work to produce, literally — fabrications have one and only one objective, to distract the attention from where it should stay,” she said.