NEW YORK CITY: A UN human rights expert on Thursday described Israel’s ban preventing her from entering the country as “a distraction from atrocities being committed in Gaza.”
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said the ban must not be allowed to divert attention from the current situation in the territory, where about 30,000 Palestinians have been killed during five months of relentless Israeli bombardment.
Albanese was already banned from entering Israel in the same way all her predecessors in the UN role have been since 2008. However, Israeli authorities explicitly stated this week that her ban is now official, in what some observers viewed as an escalation of Israel’s campaign against elements within the UN it alleges are sympathetic to Hamas.
It is happening as Rafah, which is Gaza’s southernmost city and has become the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians displaced from other parts of the territory, has come under heavy fire from Israeli airstrikes in recent days. At least 95 people have been killed there, including 42 children, according to Amnesty International.
On Thursday, Israel raided Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza, which is the largest still-functioning hospital in the territory. They alleged that Hamas militants were hiding in the facility and holding hostages, and the bodies of hostages, there. Hamas dismissed the allegation as “lies.”
The raid forced displaced people and the families of medical staff who were sheltering in the hospital to flee, with more than 2,000 arriving in Rafah overnight and others pushing north toward central Gaza.
Albanese, an Italian lawyer, described the “official ban” on entering Israel as “symbolic and misleading,” noting that in 2008 Israeli authorities detained and deported her predecessor, Richard Falk, and since then all of those appointed to the role have been denied permission to enter the country.
“Israel’s announcement must not serve as a diversion from the situation in Gaza, (where) in just over four months the Israeli army has killed over 28,500 Palestinians in Gaza, 70 percent of them women and children, while some 10,000 people are missing, presumed dead under the rubble,” she said.
“Nearly 70,000 are injured, many maimed for life, and some 1.7 million people — 75 percent of the population — have been displaced, while the entire civilian population is at risk of starvation.
“Daily, relentless massacres, the latest ones inflicted in the nonexistent ‘safe zones’ in Rafah, where over 1.4 million Palestinians are struggling to survive, are being committed in flagrant defiance of the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice.”
In a ruling last month, the ICJ ordered six provisional measures, including obligations on Israeli authorities to refrain from actions contrary to the Genocide Convention, to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to genocide, and to take immediate action to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches civilians in Gaza.
The official ban on Albanese was imposed in response to comments she made on Feb. 10 that Israel alleges amounted to justification of the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7.
Her comments came after French President Emmanuel Macron described the events of Oct. 7 as “the greatest antisemitic massacre of our century.”
In a message posted on social networking platform X, she wrote: “The ‘greatest antisemitic massacre of our century?’ No, (Mr. Macron), the victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression. France and the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims.”
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to fire Albanese.
“If the UN wants to return to being a relevant body, its leaders must publicly disavow the antisemitic words of the ‘special envoy,’” he said.
Albanese said: “Israel claims that the ban follows my comments concerning the context in which Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7 took place.
“I have strongly and consistently condemned these heinous attacks as war crimes which cannot be justified in any way, and for the fear and distress they have spread among Israelis. I continue to express my sorrow and solidarity with the victims, including the hostages still held captive, and with Jewish communities worldwide. I also call for accountability for these crimes.
“While my condemnation of the attacks is unequivocal, I also felt compelled to challenge a persistent misinterpretation of the root causes of the Oct. 7 attacks, particularly in Western countries: that the attacks were primarily motivated by antisemitism. As prominent Holocaust and antisemitism scholars have warned, this assumption is both false and dangerous as it evades the critical underpinnings of the conflict and disavows the role of Israel in fueling it.
“These scholars have recently argued that ‘appealing to the memory of the Holocaust obscures our understanding of the antisemitism Jews face today, and dangerously misrepresents the causes of violence in Israel-Palestine.’ So, while antisemitism could have played a role in the attacks at an individual level for some, their main determinants are to be found elsewhere.”
Albanese added that in keeping with her UN mandate she tried to establish formal relations with Israel that would enable her to fulfill her role but Israel responded with “hostility and slander that is often amplified by politically aligned organizations and media.”
She accused the Israeli government of consistently undermining those who promote the rule of law and defenders of human rights, including the UN secretary-general, the Human Rights Council, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the near East, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the International Court of Justice.
“Although a long and challenging endeavor, respecting international law and ending the system of apartheid that Israel imposes on the Palestinians is the only way to achieve lasting peace, human security and regional stability — for no one can be safe until everyone is safe,” Albanese added.
Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.
UN human rights expert says ban on her entering Israel must not distract from atrocities in Gaza
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UN human rights expert says ban on her entering Israel must not distract from atrocities in Gaza
- Ending the apartheid inflicted on Palestinians is only way to achieve lasting peace, security and regional stability, says special rapporteur Francesca Albanese
- Israel has prevented special rapporteurs appointed by UN Human Rights Council to focus on Palestinian human rights issues from entering the country since since 2008
UN: Two million Syrians returned home since Assad’s fall
- The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011, displaced half of the population internally or abroad
- But Assad’s December 8 ouster at the hands of Islamist forces sparked hopes of return
BEIRUT: Over two million Syrians who had fled their homes during their country’s war have returned since the ouster of Bashar Assad, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said Thursday, ahead of a visit to Syria.
The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011 with Assad’s brutal repression of anti-government protests, displaced half of the population internally or abroad.
But Assad’s December 8 ouster at the hands of Islamist forces sparked hopes of return.
“Over two million Syrian refugees and displaced have returned home since December,” Grandi wrote on X during a visit to neighboring Lebanon, which hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, according to official estimates.
It is “a sign of hope amid rising regional tensions,” he said.
“This proves that we need political solutions – not another wave of instability and displacement.”
After 14 years of war, many returnees face the reality of finding their homes and property badly damaged or destroyed.
But with the recent lifting of Western sanctions on Syria, new authorities hope for international support to launch reconstruction, which the UN estimates could cost more than $400 billion.
Earlier this month, UNHCR estimated that up to 1.5 million Syrians from abroad and two million internally displaced persons may return by the end of 2025.
‘Very bad decision’ if Hezbollah joins Iran-Israel war, says US official
- US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets Lebanese officials in Beirut as Iran and Israel trade more strikes
- Hezbollah has condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran and expressed full solidarity with its leadership
BEIRUT: A top US official visiting the Lebanese capital on Thursday discouraged Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah from intervening in the war between Iran and Israel, saying it would be a “very bad decision.”
US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Turkiye, met Lebanese officials in Beirut as Iran and Israel traded more strikes in their days-long war and as the US continues to press Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.
After meeting Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, Barrack was asked what may happen if Hezbollah joined in the regional conflict.
“I can say on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, which he has been very clear in expressing as has Special Envoy (Steve) Witkoff: that would be a very, very, very bad decision,” Barrack told reporters.
Hezbollah has condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran and expressed full solidarity with its leadership. On Thursday, it said threats against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have “dire consequences.”
But the group has stopped short of making explicit threats to intervene. After Israel began strikes on Iran last week, a Hezbollah official told Reuters the group would not launch its own attack on Israel in response.
Hezbollah was left badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel, in which the group’s leadership was gutted, thousands of fighters were killed and strongholds in southern Lebanon and near Beirut were severely damaged.
A US-brokered ceasefire deal which ended that war stipulates that the Lebanese government must ensure there are no arms outside state control.
Barrack also met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday and discussed the state’s monopoly on all arms.
Barrack is a private equity executive who has long advised Trump and chaired his inaugural presidential committee in 2016. He was appointed to his role in Turkiye and, in late May, also assumed the position of special envoy to Syria.
Israel strikes Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, other nuclear sites
- Israeli forces also struck nuclear sites in Bushehr, Isfahan and Natanz, and continue to target additional facilities
DUBAI: Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state television said Thursday.
The report said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” and that the facility had already been evacuated before the attack.
Israel had warned earlier it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area. The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that preceded strikes.
The Israeli military said Thursday’s round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating. It later said Iran fired a new salvo of missiles at Israel and told the public to take shelter.
A military spokesperson later said Israeli forces struck nuclear sites in Bushehr, Isfahan and Natanz, and continue to target additional facilities. Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant, which sits on the Gulf coast.
An Israeli military official said on Thursday that “it was a mistake” for a military spokesperson to have said earlier in the day that Israel had struck the Bushehr nuclear site in Iran.
The official would only confirm that Israel had hit the Natanz, Isfahan and Arak nuclear sites in Iran.
Pressed further on Bushehr, the official said he could neither confirm or deny that Israel had struck the location, where Iran has a reactor.
Hitting Bushehr, which is close to Gulf Arab neighbors and staffed in part by Russian experts, would have been a major escalation.
Israel’s seventh day of airstrikes on Iran came a day after Iran’s supreme leader rejected US calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.” Israel also lifted some restrictions on daily life, suggesting the missile threat from Iran on its territory was easing.
Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.
A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel, causing heavy damage.
The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers southwest of Tehran.
Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.
Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.
In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, stepping in for the US, which had withdrawn from the project after President Donald Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the nuclear deal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14.
Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran’s production and stockpile.
As part of negotiations around the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to sell off its heavy water to the West to remain in compliance with the accord’s terms. Even the US purchased some 32 tons of heavy water for over $8 million in one deal. That was one issue that drew criticism from opponents to the deal.
Iran confirms meeting European officials on Friday, Iran state media says
DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirmed on Thursday he would meet his British, French and German counterparts as well as the European Union’s top diplomat on Friday in Geneva, Iranian state media reported.
He said the meeting had come at the request of the three European states.
Iranian officials warn US against involvement in Israel-Iran conflict
- Iranian leadership doubts ‘the sincerity of the Americans,’ he adds
- Diplomat warns Israel’s attack on nuclear sites is a ‘crime’
DUBAI / LONDON: Tehran would have “no choice” but to retaliate if the US decided to join Israel in attacking Iran, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi has told CNN.
Ravanchi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: “If the Americans decide to get involved militarily, we have no choice but to retaliate. That is clear and simple because we are acting in self-defense.”
Ravanchi took part in the interview on the sixth day of conflict between his country and Israel.
Iran had been set to participate in a new round of talks on the nuclear issue with the US last Sunday, until Israel launched its attacks on Friday.
Ravanchi said that his country’s leadership doubted “the sincerity of the Americans” given the timing of Israel’s first attack.
He added: “Two days before the next round (of talks) started, the aggression took place. So, this is a betrayal of diplomacy; this is the betrayal of our trust of Americans.
“We should be the ones who should criticize the way that we were treated by the Americans, not vice versa.”
The deputy foreign minister said: “The Americans have been collaborating with the Israelis. Although they have said that they do not have anything to do with this conflict, it is not true. But if they decide to be engaged militarily, direct military involvement in this massacre, definitely we will do whatever necessary to protect ourselves.
“They (the Israelis) attacked residential areas, they attacked paramedics, they attacked citizens who were just sleeping in their homes. This is a crime against humanity, pure and simple.”
Israel’s targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities was also a crime, he said, adding: “Fordow is another protected site based on IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) rules.
“So, that will be another instance of a crime which is being done, unfortunately by Israelis and Americans, which is prohibited under international law.”
He said: “These are safeguarded places. It is a crime in accordance with international law to attack a place which is safeguarded under IAEA rules. Unfortunately, the Americans and some Europeans have shielded the Israeli regime, (and it is) not to be criticized at the IAEA board of governors’ meeting and also at the UN Security Council. So it’s shame on all those who are protecting this regime.”
Ravanchi said that Tehran had not asked the US or Israel to resume nuclear talks since hostilities began, refuting US President Donald Trump’s earlier claim that Tehran had reached out to the White House.
He said: “We are not reaching out to anybody. We are defending ourselves. Although we have always promoted diplomacy … we cannot negotiate under threat. We cannot negotiate while our people are under bombardment every day. So we are not begging for anything; we are just defending ourselves.”
He claimed that the attacks had mobilized support for the government among Iranians, adding: “Now there is a very strong cohesion within Iranian society to resist aggression, to resist foreign interference in our domestic affairs.
“Ask the people who are in Tehran. You will understand that the Iranians are behind their government because they are facing a foreign aggression which will be resisted.”
Israeli officials have been urging Iranians to rise up against their government, arguing that now is the time for regime change with leaders in Tehran “weakened” by the attacks.
The Israeli strikes came as a result of increased tensions following the release of an IAEA report showing that Tehran had accelerated its uranium enrichment to 60 percent.
Ravanchi said: “IAEA inspectors were present in Iran. Different reports of the IAEA testify to the fact that we have been very straightforward in our nuclear program.
“There is no ban on 60 percent enriched uranium, which is being used in different places for peaceful purposes.”
He reiterated that Iran does not have nuclear weapons and does not intend to create them, adding: “Nuclear weapons have no place in our defensive doctrine. In fact, we believe that the world will be a better place without nuclear weapons.
“But who has the nuclear weapons in the Middle East? The Israeli regime. Who has the weapons, the most sophisticated weapons? The Americans. So, they are the ones who are responsible for all the chaos that is going on in different parts of the world.”
His views were mirrored Thursday by Iran’s deputy foreign minister who also warned against any direct US involvement in the conflict, saying Iran had “all the necessary options on the table,” in comments reported by Iranian state media.
“If the US wants to actively intervene in support of Israel, Iran will have no other option but to use its tools to teach aggressors a lesson and defend itself ... our military decision-makers have all necessary options on the table,” Gharibabadi said, according to state media.
“Our recommendation to the US is to at least stand by if they do not wish to stop Israel’s aggression,” he said.
(With Reuters)
