Francesca Albanese, the UN official mandated to investigate “Israel’s violations of international law,” was accused today of violating the UN code of conduct in her tweet that parroted Hamas propaganda. Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based non-governmental organization UN Watch, served notice on Ms. Albanese with the following tweet to her official account:
June 9, 2024
Dear Ms. Albanese:
This is to serve notice that your statement constitutes a material breach of the United Nations Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate-Holders of the Human Rights Council, specificially for violating your duties under Article 3 to act through a professional, impartial assessment of facts based on internationally recognized human rights standards; violating your fundamental obligation of truthfulness; failing to uphold the highest standards of competence and integrity; violating your duty to act with probity, impartiality, equity, honesty and good faith; and breaching your obligation to behave in such a way as to maintain and reinforce the trust they enjoy of all stakeholders.
Abusing your UN mandate to regurgitate Hamas propaganda is a gross violation of the UN Code of Conduct, as exemplified in the following five distortions:
“Relieved”: No, you do not sound relieved at all. You have devoted your entire adult life to comparing Israelis to Nazis, so we have a pretty good idea what you think of Noa, Almog, Andrey and Shlomi. Saying you are “relieved” these Israeli civlians were freed, only to whitewash a tweet otherwise devoted to accusing Israel of “genocidal intent” for freeing its hostages, is the height of cynicism.
“Released”: Orwellian double-speak. Hamas did not “release” Noa, Almog, Andrey or Shlomi, who were captured during the massacre at the Nova music festival. On the contrary, hundreds of Hamas gunmnen wielding Kalashnikovs, PK guns and RPGs tried to kill the hostages as they were being freed by brave Israeli soldiers, who risked their lives in one of the most complex hostage rescue operatons in modern times. Arnon Zamora, age 36, commander of the rescue team who burst into the apartment where the three male hostages were held, was killed by Hamas. He leaves behing a wife and two chilren. Heroes freed the hostages. Hamas “released” none.
“Israel has used hostages to legitimize killing…”: Former peace envoy Dennis Ross said it best today: “The world is upside down when there are those who criticize the Israelis for rescuing their kidnapped hostages. Hamas fires on them, trying to kill those being rescued and their rescuers. The IDF fires on Hamas and civilians get killed. Why is it so hard for some to blame Hamas?” Ms. Albanese, the truth is that no one has encouraged Hamas terrorism more than you. Abusing your UN title, you infamously told Hamas terrorists at their 2022 Conference: “You have a right to resist.” You bear responsibility for encouraging Hamas to attack.
As a UN expert, you should be condemning Hamas for shooting at the hostages and firing rocket-propelled grenades as they tried to escape. You should commend the Israeli officers who shielded the hostages with their bodies to try to protect them. As some brave Palestinians have done today, you should condemn Hamas for deliberately placing hostages in the center of a residential area, and for firing from among civilians today, using them as human shields.
“When the hostage exchange was put on the table”: Your term “hostage exchange” is another Orwellian distortion, falsely equating innocent civilians held hostage by Hamas like Noa Argamani, who was captured at a music festival, along with babies and 80-year-old grandparents still being held hostage, with imprisoned Hamas terrorists such as Abbas Al-Sayed, who was sentenced to 35 life sentences for orchestrating the 2002 Park Hotel massacre, which killed 30 mostly elderly Israelis at a Passover dinner, injuring 140 more. Convicted terrorists in prison are not “hostages.”
“This is genocidal intent turned into action..”: Israel is not trying to commit any “genocide.” Hamas invaded Israel and launched a war on October 7th, massacring 1200 people, raping, torturing and mutilating. This is the proportional equaivalent of terrorists killing 42,000 Americans in a day. When Hamas promises to repeat the massacres again, and continues to hold more than 120 Israeli hostages, Israel’s campaign against Hamas terrorists is a just war. Other than the tortured hostages, there are 0 Jews living under Palestinian control. There are 2,000,000 Arabs living in Israel, as citizens with full rights, serving as doctors, lawyers, judges and in the parliament. The only one trying to commit genocide is Hamas, whose founding charter openly calls to kill all Jews, and which has already killed more Jews in a single day than anyone since Adoph Hitler.
Ms. Albanese, maybe that is why you seem to like, support and legitimize Hamas so much.
