UN Expert: Gaza Journalist Attacks Are Deliberate Cover-Up
(MENAFN) Attacks on journalists in the Gaza Strip are a calculated effort to hide atrocities, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said Tuesday, presenting her newest report as a probe into “truth” now “buried under the rubble.”
“What is happening is not incidental; it is intentional,” Albanese told reporters in a virtual briefing, referring to what she described as genocide in Gaza.
She said she deliberately used the provocative term “media side,” which she defined as “the systematic destruction of the media’s public function.”
“In a genocide, the systematic attack on the media is part and parcel of the crime,” she added.
Pressed for an update on the investigation into Israel’s 2022 killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Albanese was blunt: “Nothing, nothing happened. So, the update is impunity.” She said the failure to deliver accountability lay not only with Israel but also with “impunity by the United States.”
Albanese rejected the terrorist label outright, saying it “has been the label to kill everyone, to bring famine upon everyone in Gaza, to destroy Gaza.”
Even if Israel holds a right to self-defense under international law, she said, “Israel doesn’t have and cannot claim the right to wage a war against Gaza.”
Asked whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) had failed Palestinians, she answered that “the complementarity of international criminal investigation can be triggered,” and called for prosecutions “starting now with activating domestic courts.”
She said citizens of France, Britain, the US and Belgium who served in the Israeli army could face scrutiny, warning it was “something that cannot be delayed.”
Albanese also drew attention to “the absence of so many media, especially legacy media” from Western countries, saying she interpreted it as “possibly an act of solidarity” toward the outlets named in the report.
“What is happening is not incidental; it is intentional,” Albanese told reporters in a virtual briefing, referring to what she described as genocide in Gaza.
She said she deliberately used the provocative term “media side,” which she defined as “the systematic destruction of the media’s public function.”
“In a genocide, the systematic attack on the media is part and parcel of the crime,” she added.
Pressed for an update on the investigation into Israel’s 2022 killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Albanese was blunt: “Nothing, nothing happened. So, the update is impunity.” She said the failure to deliver accountability lay not only with Israel but also with “impunity by the United States.”
Albanese rejected the terrorist label outright, saying it “has been the label to kill everyone, to bring famine upon everyone in Gaza, to destroy Gaza.”
Even if Israel holds a right to self-defense under international law, she said, “Israel doesn’t have and cannot claim the right to wage a war against Gaza.”
Asked whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) had failed Palestinians, she answered that “the complementarity of international criminal investigation can be triggered,” and called for prosecutions “starting now with activating domestic courts.”
She said citizens of France, Britain, the US and Belgium who served in the Israeli army could face scrutiny, warning it was “something that cannot be delayed.”
Albanese also drew attention to “the absence of so many media, especially legacy media” from Western countries, saying she interpreted it as “possibly an act of solidarity” toward the outlets named in the report.
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