A United Nations expert told the global body's Human Rights Council on Tuesday (March 26) that Israel's military campaign in Gaza since Oct. 7 amounted to genocide and called on countries to immediately impose sanctions and an arms embargo.
"It is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my findings," Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told the UN rights body in Geneva, presenting a report called "The Anatomy of a Genocide."
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"It is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my findings," Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told the UN rights body in Geneva, presenting a report called "The Anatomy of a Genocide."
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I declare open agenda item 7 entitled "Your Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied
00:06 Since 1967."
00:09 Following nearly six months of unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my
00:15 solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my finding,
00:25 the anatomy of a genocide.
00:29 History teaches us that genocide is a process, not a single act.
00:33 It starts with the dehumanization of a group as other and the denial of that group's humanity
00:40 and ends with the destruction of the group in whole or in part.
00:45 The dehumanization of Palestinians as a group is the hallmark of their history of ethnic
00:52 cleansing, dispossession, and apartheid.
00:55 I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the
00:59 commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met.
01:04 Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with a requisite intent, causing
01:09 serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the
01:15 group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
01:20 in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group.
01:26 The genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of a longstanding settler colonial process
01:31 of erasure of the native Palestinians.
01:34 In this darkest hour, the international community cannot continue to ignore that it's Israel's
01:39 project to rid Palestine of Palestinians in defiance of international law and the world's
01:44 failure to call Israel to account that has led to genocide laid bare in Gaza.
01:52 Denial of the reality and the continuation of Israel's impunity and exceptionalism is
01:57 no longer viable.
01:59 Especially in light of yesterday's binding Security Council resolution, I implore Member
02:05 States to abide by their obligations, which start with imposing an arms embargo and sanctions
02:11 on Israel, and so ensure that the future does not continue to repeat itself.
02:18 Those who managed to evacuate to areas that Israel defined as safe humanitarian zones
02:24 have been met with further attacks, their deaths and injuries justified as collateral
02:28 damage.
02:30 By making repeated claims which have been systematically discredited, that Hamas used
02:35 hospitals as operation centres, Israel appears to be operating on the premise that if you
02:42 tell a lie long enough, people will believe it.
02:46 Thank you.
02:47 I now give the floor to - according to our practice, we will start by hearing from -
02:53 [Applause]
02:54 [Silence]
02:54 [Silence]