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| A Friend In Deed: Surrounded by allies and friends on the UN Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, not only felt free to accuse Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza, but also to claim that they were profiting hugely from their victims’ destruction. She did not, however, feel under any obligation to respond to the angry challenges of Israel’s defenders. |
IT WAS HER LITTLE SMILE that said it all. UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, appearing before the UN Human Rights Council on 3 July 2025, had not only accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza, but also of profiting hugely from their destruction.
Her report to the Council was warmly welcomed by the League of Arab States, Venezuela, Palestine, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Qatar. But, when Hillel Neuer from the United Nations Watch organisation demanded to know why, in her entire report, there wasn’t a single mention of the October 7 massacre, Hamas, Hezbollah, or that leading sponsor of terrorism across the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ms Albanese had nothing to say.
Surrounded by allies and friends, the UN Special Rapporteur was under no compulsion to answer Neuer’s questions. Hence her brief, but highly communicative, little smile.
Israel’s fury at the rest of the world’s failure to call its enemies to account is easily understood. Less easily forgiven is the Israeli state’s apparent loss of interest in trying to appraise the rest of humanity of its enemies’ ultimate purpose.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his allies clearly prefer to concentrate all their nation’s resources upon securing the complete destruction of Hamas and its allies. Very early in the Israel-Hamas War a decision was made that civilian casualties would no longer be permitted to impede Israel’s extirpation of Palestinian terrorism.
Previous forays into Gaza had been restrained by Israel’s sensitivity to global opinion. It understood that the civilian population of Gaza had become Hamas’s human ammunition against “The Zionist Enemy”. The more casualties inflicted by the Israeli Defence Force, the less international support there would be for the Israeli state. Hamas knew this. Indeed, Hamas was counting on it. The Israelis might slap its face, but they were not prepared to endure the consequences of cutting off its head.
The horrific atrocities and the unprecedented death toll – 1,200 people – of the October 7 2023 pogrom put an end to Israeli restraint.
On paper, Israel’s winning move was to do nothing. It should have refrained from firing a single bullet into Gaza, and from dropping a single bomb. Borrowing from Hamas’s own strategy, Israel should, instead, have taken on the role of victim, and used the massacre as a grisly illustration of the true nature of Palestinianism.
On paper.
But October 7 2023 did not unfold on paper. Rather than allowing the world to discern the true nature of Hamas, Israel opted, instead, to avenge its dead and abducted citizens by destroying the terrorist organisation completely – regardless of the civilian cost.
The warning of the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche: “Have a care when fighting monsters, lest ye become a monster yourself”, went unheeded by Netanyahu and his bloodthirsty Zionist allies. Month by month, the breadth of their vision narrowed, until they could no longer perceive how decisively world opinion was being turned against Israel by a Hamas enemy whose supply of human ammunition – claims of Israeli genocide notwithstanding – showed every sign of being inexhaustible.
As Gaza was steadily transformed into an trackless waste of rubble, and the body-count climbed inexorably towards 60,000, it became increasingly plausible for the likes of Francesca Albanese to prosecute their charges of genocide. Certainly, the Muslim world raised no objections to such claims.
Israel was now in the terrifying predicament of Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” Seized by that grim realisation, Israel plunged on. Soon its bullets and bombs were pummelling Lebanon – and then Iran.
Darkness now gathers around Israel as, methodically, Gaza is being flattened out. In the desolation that used to be Rafah, the IDF is preparing to build a “Humanitarian City” of tents for 600,000, rising to two million, Palestinians. Around these tents the Israelis propose to string coil-after-coil of razor-wire. Doubtless, there will be searchlights and watchtowers. Certainly, once the Palestinians are driven into this terrible encampment, they will not be suffered to leave.
Imagine the terror of the Gazans, as they shuffle under the tutelage of Israeli firepower towards the gates of this hellish place. We can only pray that, when they lift their eyes, they do not read the words: “Arbeit Macht Frei”.
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| The Gates of Auschwitz. |
This essay was originally published in The Otago Daily Times and The Greymouth Star of Friday, 18 July 2025.
10 comments:
Interesting this breast bashing when somebody criticising Netanyahu's actions in Gaza.
The standard ""the atrocities of October the 7th" are dutifully trotted out with the wrong numbers of civilians killed and debunked claims from that day. Babies were not burnt in ovens, pregnant women did not have their bellies slashed open etc etc.
Or Chris, how about the counter number of Palestinian civilians killed. Now estimated by reputable independent sources as well over 50-,000.
But no mention of the atrocities carried out against the Palestinians.
Chris I expect better of you than to defend the IDF killings in Gaza with a trite.
Reference that at the beginning Netanyahu said tuff luck to civilians killed by massive bombing and shelling from IDF forces.
Be aware that Netanyahu had an alternative which was approved by his military leadership. But vetoed by him. Massive and fast flooding of all the tunnels. Limited Civilian casualties and minimal structural damage.
But no. Netanyahu wants the destruction of Gaza and the removal of its residents.
Subsequently, this has been restated by Netanyahu as continuing even if the hostages are released.
When a seasoned, supposedly independent, observer such as yourself can get sucked into emotional one sided response to a tragedy, I despair for modern society.
I wont be suprised if you dont publish this rebuke.
The ME is a mess and I cant see any sensible resolution in my or my childrens lifetime.
Clearly Israeli government is committing genocide...call it what is and oppose it, this is your obligation. Genocide is anti Judaism
Go Israel, complete the mission, people home, hamas destroyed.
It's very hard to rationalise the destruction in Gaza Chris. Netanyahu is obviously paranoid at the the possibility of any remaining Hamas in Gaza but the restrictions put on food supplies takes the atrocity to another level. Netanyahu must know the world is against him, but perhaps is willing to sacrifice himself at a criminal level, in an effort to remove Palestinians completely from Gaza. The world won't stand for that I wouldn't think. Certainly the UK threatening to recognise a Palestinian State should make Netanyahu focus more clearly on a solution other than his.
If you care to watch you-tube, the rapporteur has answered questions from just about everyone and debated all sorts of people on the right. No avoidance of questioning at all. And she has more principles in her little finger than any of her critics have in their whole body.
Your last paragraph says it all Chris. A developing tragedy too is the price Judaism will pay in rising antisemitism from people repelled by this biblical Zionist lunacy. Note a similarity with the Warsaw ghetto; lock them up, bomb and starve them, ship survivors to death camps then erase the entire area.
When it comes to people getting "sucked in", Unknown, I tend to think of those who persist in the delusion that the Hamas version of 7/10/23 is an accurate description of what happened. It requires industrial-level gullibility to accept the fiction that Hamas are noble resistance fighters defending their people, when it is beyond obvious that they are using their people's blood and suffering as ammunition in a war that will only end when Israel - and Israelis - cease to exist. Honestly, any person who can't - or won't - see that more than merits the accusation of antisemitism.
If the Israelis truly intended to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza, they could've done it in a few weeks. That they haven't done it is the best argument against the proposition that what's taking place in Gaza is genocide.
What's taking place in Gaza is unrelenting urban warfare. Yes, it's brutal. Yes it's costing thousands of lives. Yes, it's Hell on Earth. But, show me a war that isn't.
That is my fear, Anonymous.
Netanyahu's critical role in the way this tragedy has unfolded cannot be overemphasized. A wiser and braver leader of Israel would have wept and done nothing. Then there would have been nothing to distract the world from the horror of Hamas's pogrom. It is never wise to do exactly what your enemy wants you to do.
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