Israel slams UN expert over ‘eradication’ of Palestinians claim

Israel slams UN expert over ‘eradication’ of Palestinians claim
UN rights expert Francesca Albanese wrote in a report that ‘the genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end.’ (AFP file photo)
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Updated 30 October 2024
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Israel slams UN expert over ‘eradication’ of Palestinians claim

Israel slams UN expert over ‘eradication’ of Palestinians claim
  • UN rights expert Francesca Albanese said Israel was committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza
  • Israel’s mission in Geneva: ‘This distorted reality is a smokescreen to hide her hatred for Israel’

GENEVA: Outspoken UN rights expert Francesca Albanese is a “political activist” abusing her mandate “to hide her hatred for Israel,” the country’s mission in Geneva charged Wednesday.
Albanese, UN special rapporteur on rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, reiterated an allegation that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, saying it is seeking the “eradication of Palestinians” from their land.
Albanese said the offensive Israel unleashed after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks was “part of a long-term international, systematic state-organized forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians.”
Israel’s Geneva UN mission said in a statement: “According to her hate-filled paradigm, the state of Israel has no historic reason to exist, no right to defend its population, and both the attack of October 7 and the rescue of hostages are merely used by Israel as an excuse.
“This distorted reality is a smokescreen to hide her hatred for Israel.
“Francesca Albanese is nothing but a political activist who abuses an already discriminatory UN mandate. She is regularly spewing anti-Semitism, shielding and encouraging terrorism, and distorting the law.
“As a UN mandate holder, she has breached every possible rule of the UN code of conduct. She must immediately be held accountable for her continuous abuses.”
Albanese has long faced harsh criticism, allegations of anti-Semitism and demands for her removal, from Israel and some of its allies, over her relentless criticism and longstanding accusations of “genocide.”
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council. They do not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.
On October 7 last year, Hamas militants attacked inside Israel resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.
Albanese wrote in a report released Tuesday: “The genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land so integral to their identity, and which is illegally and openly coveted by Israel.
“Since its establishment, Israel has treated the occupied people as a hated encumbrance and threat to be eradicated, subjecting millions of Palestinians, for generations, to everyday indignities, mass killing, mass incarceration, forced displacement, racial segregation and apartheid.”
Israel’s long-thorny relationship with the UN has also worsened since the Gaza war started.


Chemical weapons watchdog warns of dangers of Syria strikes

Chemical weapons watchdog warns of dangers of Syria strikes
Updated 14 sec ago
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Chemical weapons watchdog warns of dangers of Syria strikes

Chemical weapons watchdog warns of dangers of Syria strikes
The director-general of OPCW Fernando Arias, said his group was "following closely" reports of strikes on military facilities
"Such airstrikes could create a risk of contamination"

THE HAGUE: Strikes on Syrian chemical weapons sites risk contaminating and destroying valuable evidence, the head of the international watchdog warned Thursday, admitting the group did not yet know whether sites have been affected.
There has been widespread global concern about the fate of Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons since the dramatic overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.
On Monday, Israel said it had struck "remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists".
The director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Fernando Arias, said his group was "following closely" reports of strikes on military facilities.
"We do not know yet whether these strikes have affected chemical weapons related sites. Such airstrikes could create a risk of contamination," said Arias in a speech.
"Another real risk would be the destruction of valuable evidence for investigations by different independent international bodies related to past use of chemical weapons," he added.
In 2014, the OPCW set up what it called a "fact-finding mission" to investigate chemical weapons use in Syria.
This team has issued 21 reports covering 74 instances of alleged chemical weapons use, according to the OPCW.
Investigators concluded that chemical weapons were used or likely used in 20 instances.
"Additionally, we also have to consider the risk of any dangerous chemicals or equipment being lost, without any control," warned Arias in his speech.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opens new embassy building in Vatican City

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opens new embassy building in Vatican City
Updated 40 min 35 sec ago
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opens new embassy building in Vatican City

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opens new embassy building in Vatican City
  • Abbas calls on countries to recognize Palestine
  • President meets Pope Francis, senior Vatican officials

LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas officially inaugurated the new building of Palestine’s Embassy in Vatican City on Thursday.

Abbas called on countries that have not yet recognized Palestine to do so, and to acknowledge the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, the news and information agency WAFA reported.

After raising the Palestinian flag, Abbas spoke of efforts to gain full UN membership and achieve greater international recognition for Palestine.

The Vatican officially recognized the State of Palestine on May 13, 2015. On June 26 of the same year, the Vatican’s Holy See and the Palestinian Authority signed a comprehensive agreement for mutual recognition.

Armenia was the last country — the 149th — to recognize Palestine, on June 21, 2024. There are Palestinian embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions in 110 countries.

The opening ceremony of the new embassy building was attended by several Palestinian Authority officials, including Ziad Abu Amr, the first deputy prime minister, and Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the Vatican.

Earlier, Abbas had a private audience with Pope Francis and senior Vatican officials. He is also scheduled to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella in Rome.


Blinken says US working to bring home US citizen found in Syria

Blinken says US working to bring home US citizen found in Syria
Updated 49 min 56 sec ago
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Blinken says US working to bring home US citizen found in Syria

Blinken says US working to bring home US citizen found in Syria
  • In media reports, the man was identified as Travis Timmerman

AQABA, Jordan: The United States is working to get a U.S. citizen found on Thursday in Syria out of the country and bring him home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Jordan, where he held meetings to discuss the situation in Syria.
In media reports, the man was identified as Travis Timmerman. Blinken said he had no update on American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012, but said the U.S. was continuing work to find him.


At least nine die, six missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

At least nine die, six missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
Updated 12 December 2024
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At least nine die, six missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

At least nine die, six missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
  • The coast guard has so far rescued 27 people
  • The boat had been carrying at least 42 people when it sank

TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of nine migrants while six others are still missing after their boat sank off the Tunisian coast, a judicial official said on Thursday, in the latest migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean.
The coast guard has so far rescued 27 people who were on the boat when it broke down and took on water due to bad weather. According to survivors’ testimonies, the boat had been carrying at least 42 people when it sank.
Judge Farid Ben Jha told Reuters that a search was underway for at least six migrants who had been on the boat when it sank off the coast of Chebba.
All the migrants on the boat were from sub-Saharan African countries.
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere in Africa seeking a better life in Europe.


Pope meets Palestinian leader Abbas at the Vatican

Pope meets Palestinian leader Abbas at the Vatican
Updated 12 December 2024
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Pope meets Palestinian leader Abbas at the Vatican

Pope meets Palestinian leader Abbas at the Vatican
  • The pair, who have previously met several times, discussed peace efforts during a private half-hour audience according to the Vatican
  • Abbas then met the Holy See’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Vatican’s equivalent of a foreign minister, Paul Richard Gallagher

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, who has recently intensified criticism of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, on Thursday received Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, with whom he discussed the “serious” humanitarian situation.
The pair, who have previously met several times, discussed peace efforts during a private half-hour audience according to the Vatican, which released images of them smiling together.
Abbas then met the Holy See’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Vatican’s equivalent of a foreign minister, Paul Richard Gallagher.
The discussions focused on the Church’s assistance in “the very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza,” the hoped-for ceasefire, release of all hostages, and “achieving the two-state solution only through dialogue and diplomacy,” a Vatican statement said.
The meeting comes a few days after the release of a photo showing Pope Francis praying in front of a nativity scene at the Vatican, where the baby Jesus’s manger is covered with a black and white keffiyeh scarf, the symbol of Palestinian resistance.
The photo prompted a protest from the Israeli embassy to the Holy See, which asked for the keffiyeh to be removed, diplomatic and Vatican sources told AFP.
Francis has called for peace since Hamas’s unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and the Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza.
In recent weeks he has hardened his remarks against the Israeli offensive.
At the end of November, he said that “the invader’s arrogance... prevails over dialogue” in “Palestine,” a rare position that contrasts with the tradition of neutrality of the Holy See.
In extracts from a forthcoming book published in November, he called for a “careful” study as to whether the situation in Gaza “corresponds to the technical definition” of genocide, an accusation firmly rejected by Israel.
Francis denounced an “immoral” use of force in Lebanon and Gaza at the end of September.
The Holy See has recognized the State of Palestine since 2013, with which it maintains diplomatic relations, and it supports the two-state solution.
Abbas is also due to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella in Rome.