A United Nations independent expert on human rights in Palestine asserted that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and emphasized the international community’s moral obligations towards the ongoing conflict in the Middle East during a talk at Georgetown University Oct. 28.
Francesca Albanese, the expert, is an Italian international lawyer who serves as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and works independently of the U.N. to examine and report on human rights issues. On Oct. 1, the U.N. published a report by Albanese on conflict in the region that concluded Israel has committed genocide and ethnic cleansing in an attempt to colonize Palestine; in her talk, titled “Anatomy of Genocide in Gaza” and part of the university’s Gaza Lecture Series, Albanese discussed the report and the wider context of war in the region.
“I concluded in March this year with others — and there are Israeli scholars, experts of genocide — together with leading genocide scholars, that what Israel has done amounts to acts of genocide,” Albanese said at the event.
“It’s established as Article II of the Genocide Convention, which says this is very specific to this crime, that in order to have genocide, this crime should be committed with the intent to destroy,” Albanese added.
Albanese’s report also concluded that the violence in Gaza “is not happening in a vacuum, but is part of a long-term intentional, systematic, State-organized forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians.” It also recommends that member states of the U.N. intervene in the conflict.
“Investigations can be launched by domestic courts,” Albanese said at the event. “And then there is the responsibility of the state that can only be investigated by the International Court of Justice.”
During the event, Albanese also said Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel constituted crimes in international law.
“There is no way to say that what happened on Oct. 7 was not, to a large extent, a series of crimes,” Albanese said. “The moment civilians are touched, killed, brutalized, taken hostage, we are in the realm of crimes, and crimes are to be investigated and prosecuted.”
Albanese said Israeli officials not directly involved in the country’s military actions in Gaza are still responsible for enabling genocide.
“You cannot claim that this has been only the atrocities intended by a group of government officials, because what were the other government officials doing?” Albanese said. “They have supported, aided and elected and even further enabled the work the government has done. What was the Parliament doing? Just kept on passing laws to the treatment of Palestinians harsher and harsher.”
“And what has the judiciary done, especially after Jan. 26, when the court, the International Court of Justice, ordered Israel to investigate and prosecute genocide or incitement? Nothing,” Albanese added.
Albanese said that the violence in Gaza must be viewed with a wider context.
“You cannot look for genocidal intent with a microscope, because genocide is an insidious crime, but it’s a collective and complex endeavor,” Albanese said. “And if you take a step back and look at the totality of conduct, it is the totality of the people in the totality of the land.”
Albanese has faced accusations of antisemitism from figures including Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
The Georgetown Israel Alliance (GIA), a student organization that supports Israel, released a statement on Instagram condemning Albanese’s presence on campus.
“As a Jesuit institution that prides itself on religious diversity and inclusion, we ask that you reconsider your decision to bring Francesca Albanese to this campus,” GIA wrote in the statement. “Allowing her on this campus to speak is dangerous and demonstrates a significant disregard for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students.”
At a Princeton University event Oct. 29, the day after her lecture at Georgetown, Albanese said she condemns antisemitism.
“Antisemitism is disgusting,” Albanese said at the event. “However, in recent years, antisemitism has been used as a weapon against any critical voice against Israeli practices.”
“Jewish people have profound love for Israel, and I respect it, but I do not respect governments who do not abide by international law,” Albanese added. “No one here is calling for the destruction of the Israeli state, only asking for Israel to be aligned with international law and human rights and not practice apartheid.”
Albanese’s talk was the eighth in the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU)’s Gaza Lecture Series, which started in January 2024, and brings speakers from a variety of disciplines to examine topics ranging from increasing antisemitism and islamophobia to the history of colonialism.
During the event, Fida Adely, the director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), an interdisciplinary program in the School of Foreign Service (SFS) that focuses on the Arab culture, history and economics, introduced Albanese and said it is vital for academics to discuss the impact of the Israel-Hamas war to ensure that the U.S. government can confront its complicity in the ongoing conflict.
“The threat of a full-scale regional war hangs over us, and all of this has been supported and funded by the U.S. government, by our representatives just a stone’s throw away,” Adely said at the event. “Their complicity means that U.S. citizens and those of us at U.S. institutions have a moral obligation to speak about the grave injustices being committed, injustices that jeopardize the safety and security of everyone in the region, if not the world, including Israelis.”
ACMCU Director Nader Hashemi said the series is important in understanding the consequences of events in Israel and Palestine.
“This is a major global event that has not only destabilized the Middle East but has global, international repercussions,” Hashemi told The Hoya. “The United States is deeply involved in the horror, the trauma and what many people believe is an unfolding genocide, and as a university and a School of Foreign Service devoted to the study of international relations, we felt that we had, as educators, an educational responsibility and moral responsibility to organize a lecture series devoted to examining this monumental, transformative, global event.”
Albanese said attention needs to remain on the crisis in Gaza or the international community will regret allowing the violence to continue.
“When we see what has been done to the people of Gaza, we will be ashamed that it has happened on our watch,” Albanese said. “And I say that having been forced to look a little at what has transpired, what they have been enduring, adults and children alike.”
Albanese said that young people on both sides of the conflict fighting for human rights give her hope for the future.
“We can still come back,” Albanese said. “We are suspended, I often say, between the present day, the abyss, and hope. Hope comes from Palestinians and Israelis who resist and can engage in a decolonized future and from the youth. I really praise many of you who have shown older people what it means to walk the walk when it comes to human rights.”