Israel bans entry of UN special rapporteur for Palestinians

Israel yesterday banned the entry of the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinians Francesca Albanese, Anadolu news agency reported.

“The era of Jews being silent is over,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel claimed in a joint statement.

“If the UN wants to return to being a relevant body, its leaders must publicly disavow the anti-Semitic words of the ‘Special Envoy’ – and fire her permanently,” they said.

Israeli officials accuse the UN rapporteur of justifying the 7 October Hamas on Israeli towns and villages around the Gaza envelope.

“The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression,” Albanese wrote in response to a Le Monde post reporting on French President Emmanuel Macron honouring Israelis killed on 7 October.

“The ‘greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century’? No, Mr. Emmanuel Macron. The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims,” she added.

Responding to Israel’s decision, Albanese said: “Israel’s “denying me entry” is not news: Israel has denied entry to ALL Special Rapporteurs/oPt since 2008! This must not become a distraction from Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, which are taking a new level of horror with the bombing of people in ‘safe areas’ in #Rafah.”

Israel’s ban on Albanese follows an earlier decision in December 2023 to revoke the residence visa of UN Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hastings.

It comes as Israel has killed more than 28,340 Palestinians and injured 67,984 others in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.

The Israeli onslaught has left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

READ: UN rapporteur: Tel Aviv has prevented our entry into Israel since 2008