UN Rapporteur Says Received Threats since She Started Mission on Palestine

UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine Francesca Albanese said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that ‘Israel’ is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
She was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, where she presented her latest report, entitled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’, during an interactive dialogue with Member States.
“Following nearly six months of unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of, and to present my findings,” she said.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide has been met.”
Citing international law, Albanese explained that genocide is defined as a specific set of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
“Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent, causing seriously serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group,” she said.
Albanese said denial of the reality and the continuation of Israeli impunity and exceptionalism is no longer viable, especially in light of the binding UN Security Council resolution, adopted on Monday, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Meanwhile the UN special rapporteur revealed that she has been attacked and received numerous threats since she began her mission.
Source: Agencies