United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, an Italian academic, believes assassinated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers “in a way that is quite inhumane.”
The UN's Francesca Albanese: The way the IDF killed Yahya Sinwar was "quite inhumane. I do not believe that this is justice"pic.twitter.com/iZQz4MgR6C
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 27, 2024
Speaking French in an interview with the France 24 news outlet, Albanese said that she would have preferred to see Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh (assassinated earlier this year), as well as Sinwar, “appear before the International Criminal Court with the other Israeli leaders who had been identified by prosecutor Karim Khan for an arrest warrant.”
Is it even relevant to consider that neither Haniyeh nor Sinwar ever appeared at the negotiating table with Israeli representatives to discuss a deal to release the hostages, let alone to contemplate the likelihood of their appearing at an international court to discuss the years-long war crimes and crimes against humanity they ordered? Such a situation would be simply laughable if it wasn’t so outrageous.
Although Albanese acknowledged that Sinwar was a military target, she told the news outlet the IDF “killed him in a way that is quite inhumane. I do not believe that this is justice. I find that it is a use of violent force, despite of course that he was a target; he was someone who had committed or ordered crimes against Israeli civilians.”
The UN official said Sinwar “had to be tried … and brought to justice” rather than assassinated.
The IDF and Israeli intelligence agencies had spent more than a year searching for Sinwar, the mastermind and force behind the horrific massacre of 1,200 people during the invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 by thousands of Hamas-led terrorists. The killers butchered, burned, tortured, raped and slaughtered men, women and children — even babies and grandmothers — while laughing and proudly broadcasting their actions live on social media. They abducted 251 others, of whom 101 are still being held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, including the bodies of more than 30 captives confirmed by Israeli intelligence as no longer living.
Sinwar met his end during a routine patrol by the IDF 828th Bislamach Brigade in Tel Sultan, an area of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The forces encountered three Hamas fighters, engaged them in battle, and eliminated them.
As it happened, the IDF soldiers who killed the Hamas monster were unaware of his identity until after they ended his reign of terror. At the time of Sinwar’s death, they believed they were eliminating a garden-variety Hamas terrorist.
The troops had identified three Hamas fighters running from house to house, and engaged them in battle. The three split up, and one ran alone into one of the buildings, the IDF said.
The lone masked terrorist, who appeared to be injured, threw what appeared to be a stick at the IDF drone that located him within an apartment. He was killed when a tank launched a shell at the building, rather than risk entry by troops.
The body was not identified until the next morning, when IDF soldiers entered to determine the status of the nameless fighter and realized he bore a striking resemblance to the most feared leader in Hamas.
Sinwar was found with a flak jacket, a gun and NIS 40,000 shekels (approximately $10,554) in cash.
Albanese has a long, illustrious history of hating the Jewish State. In a report earlier this year entitled Anatomy of a Genocide, the UN official quotes Hamas figures as fact and accuses Israel of having “destroyed Gaza” despite numerous personal TikTok videos uploaded by Gazans exposing the lie for what it is. Albanese writes, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.”
In the introduction to the report, she writes, “The Special Rapporteur firmly condemns the crimes committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Israel on 7 October and urges accountability and the release of hostages.”
However, she goes on to write, “This report does not examine those events, as they are beyond the geographic scope of her mandate. Nor does it examine the situation in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.” It’s not clear why she finds the events of October 7, 2023 as “beyond the geographic scope of her mandate” and yet has no problem quoting propaganda by the Hamas perpetrators as unassailable fact.
To its credit, the United States rejected the allegations and report, opposing the mandate of the special rapporteur.
“Allegations of genocide are unfounded,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on March 27 about the report authored by Albanese. Miller also said the Biden administration has “opposed the mandate of this special rapporteur,” noting “a history of antisemitic comments that she has made.” He added that she “appeared to justify the attacks of October 7th.”
In her report, Albanese also called for an arms embargo against Israel, a UN General Assembly plan to punish Israel for provoking the war Hamas launched, and an “international protective presence to constrain the violence” against Palestinians, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies noted.
The UN Watch non-governmental organization has called on the US to sanction and bar Albanese’s entry to the country, citing her antisemitic views and hate for the State of Israel.
In a 60-page report released last week, “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” the Geneva-based UN Watch documents how Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s monitor tasked with investigating “Israel’s violations” in the Palestinian territories, routinely portrays Israelis as Nazis, complains that America is “subjugated by the Jewish Lobby,” and denies the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023.
In November 2022, Albanese told a Hamas conference, “You have a right to resist.”
On October 7th, as the massacre was underway, she rushed to defend Hamas, saying, “Today’s violence must be put in context.”
Earlier this year, Albanese elicited international condemnation when she denied that the October 7th pogrom targeted Jews, and when she instead accused Israel of having provoked the massacre.
“For far too long, Albanese has abused her UN mandate to spread Hamas propaganda. She is the first UN special rapporteur in history to be condemned by France, Germany and the US for antisemitism,” UN Watch said. “It is time to #FireFrancesca.”
