Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, spoke at the Groote Kerk in Cape Town on Sunday 26 October.
- UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese addressed a large crowd at the Groote Kerk in Cape Town on Sunday.
- While praising the South African government for launching the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, she called for more action.
- She called for countries to “suspend all military, trade and diplomatic relations with Israel”.
- She called for individuals to stop using Airbnb and Coca-Cola, companies that are accused of supporting Israel.
Taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was enormous, but more can be done to isolate Israel. This was according to Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.
Albanese spoke at a packed Groote Kerk church on Sunday afternoon. About a thousand people attended. This followed her lecture at the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg on Saturday.
She grew up in Southern Italy. She is a lawyer who has specialised in human rights and the Middle East. Since 2018, Albanese has taught and lectured at various universities in Europe and the Middle East. She became the Special Rapporteur in May 2022. (Read more about her.)
“Bringing the case to the ICJ … It’s been enormous. South Africa went ahead alone and risked huge repercussions from the United States and others,” she told the audience at the Groote Kerk. “I don’t agree that South Africa has not done enough because as a government, it has tried and it is trying to mobilise allies.”
However, she said the government could do more, such as ending all trade with Israel. She also called on consumers to join the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“Are you still drinking Coke? Are you still using Airbnb? Wherever I go, there is Coca-Cola in this country, so stop drinking Coca-Cola first and then blame the government.
“I’m not here to defend the government. I’m upset with the government as well because it’s still providing coal to Israel,” she added.
About a thousand people attended the event. People were sitting on chairs watching a live screening outside the venue as well.
Referring to Trump’s Gaza plan in which former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is playing a key role, she said: “Tony Blair … the only place I’d like to see that man is in the Hague. I really wish him a long life and healthy life that allows us to put together all the papers we need to take him to The Hague.” (The Hague is the location of the ICJ and where people are tried for crimes against humanity. Blair has faced widespread criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.)
“There is an ideological element that still doesn’t allow many people in my part of the world to see the humanity of the Palestinians,” she continued.
Albanese spoke about how Jews faced genocide in Europe during the Nazi period. She compared the way Palestinians are treated and “dehumanised” today to the way Jews were treated by the Nazis.
“The brutality and the inhumanity that I’ve seen unleashed against the Palestinian people, not just in Gaza (but) in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem … what has been done to the Palestinians the moment that they have been arrested and detained by Israelis is something I’ve never seen anywhere else,” said Albanese.
“It’s a collective crime that has been enabled exactly because no one has respected the law, no one has done what was supposed to be done — cutting ties with Israel,” she said on Sunday.
Video: Matthew Hirsch
News24 reported that shortly after her speech on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture in Johannesburg, Albanese was served with court papers, apparently by a US-based Christian group. On Sunday, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, noted “with regret” that the process used to serve the papers was “unauthorised”. Albanese has declined to comment further on this, and details remain sketchy.
Referring to some of the threats she receives from Zionists, she said: “It’s true the monsters are giving me a hard time. But it doesn’t change anything because I can’t feel them. I can’t hear them anymore. Of course, they bother me, but like flies, sorry flies,” she said.
In her latest report, dated 20 October, she says: “The genocide in Gaza was not committed in isolation, but as part of a system of global complicity. Rather than ensuring that Israel respects the basic human rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people, powerful Third States – perpetuating colonial and racial-capitalist practices that should have long been consigned to history – have allowed violent practices to become an everyday reality,” reads the report.
She recommends, among other things, that countries should “suspend all military, trade and diplomatic relations with Israel”.
SA Jews for a Free Palestine, Gift of the Givers and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign were among the groups that organised Sunday’s event. There was also an interfaith service as part of the programme.
Albanese received a standing ovation from the Cape Town audience.
She is also expected to brief the portfolio committee on international relations in Parliament on Tuesday and give a presentation on her report at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
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