UN Palestine Expert: Israel Should Be Removed From UN Over UNRWA Attacks
Francesca Albanese and others say that unseating Israel may be one of the only ways for the UN to stop the genocide.
December 6, 2024
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The UN’s top independent expert on Palestinian human rights has repeated a call for Israel to be removed from its membership in the United Nations, citing its “relentless attacks” against the institution’s top aid group for Palestinian refugees.
On Thursday, UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese said on social media that Israel should be unseated, echoing calls from numerous international law experts and advocates for Palestinian rights.
Albanese has previously said that there are many reasons Israel should have its UN credential revoked. But just “the unparalleled/relentless attacks against the UN this year, in Gaza alone” merit suspension, she said, referring specifically to Israel’s treatment of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
These attacks include “damaging 70 percent of UNRWA premises, killing 240+ UN staff, arbitrarily arresting and often torturing countless of UNRWA staff and beneficiaries, hampering/destroying humanitarian aid, killing and maiming [forcibly displaced people] in UN shelters, defaming UNRWA and even outlawing it through Knesset vote, preventing access to UN investigators, etc.,” Albanese pointed out.
The special rapporteur’s post came in response to a statement by UNRWA saying that Israel has “stepped up its disinformation campaign” against the crucial human rights agency, buying ad space online and putting up billboards in cities across the world to attack the group.
By Sharon Zhang