Those who have made it their profession to defame her and all for which she advocates defame only themselves
Mouin Rabbani is a researcher, analyst, and commentator specialising in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He is a co-editor of Jadaliyya and a non-resident fellow at the Qatar-based Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. A graduate of Tufts University and Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Rabbani has published, presented and commented widely on Middle East issues, including for most major print, television and digital media.
Cross-posted from Mouin Rabbani’s Substack
The latest campaign to defame the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, Francesca Albanese, consists of a series of inter-connected scandals.
The first is that this campaign is based on an act of pre-meditated fraud. The offending video clip, which formed the basis for the resulting firestorm, was knowingly doctored to make it appear that Albanese made a statement she did not in fact make.
The second is that a number of European governments immediately responded to this fabrication with demands for Albanese’s head. In their rush to judgement, they refused to engage in the elementary precaution of reviewing the evidence, and thus of determining the integrity, or in this case the lack thereof, of the accusations levelled against Albanese.
This is because when it comes to defending Israeli impunity and amplifying smears produced by its flunkies to consolidate this impunity, these governments consistently operate in an evidence-free world.
The third is that the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, ever the loyal servant of Western power, gratuitously threw Albanese under the bus. Whether or not the accusations directed at Albanese had any merit was viewed as fundamentally irrelevant. That several powerful European states and of course the US have demanded Albanese’s ouster was enough for him to order his spokesperson to announce that “we don’t agree with much of what she says”.
Craig Mokhiber quite correctly characterised this and subsequent statements as the “Pontius Pilate response”. Fortunately, Guterres can do little more than parrot his masters, since the UN Secretary-General does not have the authority to remove special rapporteurs appointed by the Human Rights Council.
More scandalous than all of the above is that the source of the doctored video used to smear Albanese, UN Watch, continues to be taken in any way seriously, by anybody. UN Watch has a single-minded obsession with preserving Israeli impunity and defending each and every one of its numerous crimes. It is equally devoted to defaming, vilifying, and sanctioning anyone and anything within the UN system that gets in the way.
Over the years, Albanese and every one of her predecessors have been a particular focus of this propaganda group, which has also repeatedly called for the post to be abolished. As far as UN Watch is concerned, Palestinian rights do not exist and should never be on the UN’s agenda.
UN Watch and its supreme leader, Hillel Neuer, in fact specialise in disinformation and fabrication. Yet Western politicians and parliaments consistently dance to its tune, hang on to every word it publishes, and live in terror of contradicting it.
More than anything else, this reflects a shared commitment to Israeli impunity and, as amply demonstrated during the Gaza Genocide, a willingness to safeguard this by hook or by crook. If UN Watch sought to defend the government of Myanmar or Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces with the same methods it deploys to support Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime, it would have long ago sunk into permanent obscurity, and those who treat its pronouncements with the utmost seriousness and reverence would be too ashamed to admit they had ever heard of UN Watch or Hillel Neuer.
But the biggest, over-arching scandal in this sordid affair was identified by Albanese herself. In her words: “Three European governments accuse me – based on statements I never made -with a virulence and conviction that they have NEVER used against those who have slaughtered 20,000+ children in 858 days.”
But what if Albanese had in fact uttered the words falsely attributed to her by Hillel Neuer and his toxic propaganda outfit? Consider the following, posted on Substack by Dyab Abou Jahjah, founder of The Hind Rajab Foundation:
Any regime committing genocide and killing children in the thousands is an enemy of humanity. This is why these atrocities are called ‘crimes against humanity’. The Israeli regime should not be an exception. Unless your definition of ‘humanity’ does not include Palestinians.
Albanese, however, never said this. She said something more important. She said that the system enabling this kind of crimes and impunity, is a common enemy of humanity and that it needs to be changed so that all of us can be free. Now, this system is attacking her.
When Albanese initially submitted her candidacy for the position of Special Rapporteur, I was asked to weigh in with a letter of recommendation. I had known her for a number of years, and was also familiar with her scholarly work, as well as her commitment and integrity. Responding positively to this request was a no-brainer.
Suffice it to say that appointing her was one of the best decisions the Human Rights Council has made in recent years. During a period when so many self-proclaimed human rights champions have vacillated, gone incognito, or concealed themselves behind a camouflage of impenetrable word salads, Francesca Albanese has been that all too rare ray of light. As I have written elsewhere:
During the Gaza Genocide Francesca Albanese has been more than a tireless and fearless advocate for rights and justice, undeterred by orchestrated campaigns of vilification. She has become the world’s moral conscience, while also enriching us with works of profound scholarship and analysis exposing the crimes and complicity of those who have neither morals nor conscience. Her place in history is assured.
Those who have made it their profession to defame her and all for which she advocates, defame only themselves.
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