Israel, Gaza, and the UN: Francesca Albanese

Francesca P. Albanese is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

0:00 Trump’s Gaza Riviera comments
0:53 Introduction to Francesca Albanese
04:25 Francesca’s childhood in southern Italy, early exposure to injustice, and influence of her lawyer father
08:02 Her memory of mafia assassinations
11:00 Analysis of Italy’s political situation
14:16 How social media creates echo chambers in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
16:00 Her unexpected rise as a social media voice; explanation of her UN Special Rapporteur role
18:05 Her UN position
21:50 First visits to Palestine, Gaza, and Israel; impact of 2008 Gaza war and UNRWA’s influence
24:06 Lived experience in East Jerusalem
27:15 Her relations with Israelis
38:00 Talks about Israel’s refusal to cooperate with any Special Rapporteurs since 2008.
41:06 Accusations of genocide
43:17 The collapse of the peace process
47:40 How US behavior affects global norms.
50:57 UK’s support for Israel
55:07 Debrief

[singsomethingsimple]

The best interviewee I have seen on this channel. Her clarity on international law is formidable and her courage to speak truth to power is immense.

[asadashraf]

Even mentioning Tony Blair as a possible special rapporteur in this situation, considering his history in the region is disgusting.

[asadashraf]

This isn’t a political issue, it’s a moral one. This lady’s courage, wisdom, passion and compassion is genuine and heartwarming. Keep up the good work. ❤

[JacBonn-op]

As an *essentially pro human rights* listener, I found RS and AC lazy to characterize Albanese as “polarising” and patronising to fawn over her “passion”. I was fortunate to see Albanese in a community hall in Auckland, NZ in 2023 and she was as she is here - robust, incisive, illustrative. Please do invite her back.

[thegrynne]

Thank you for interviewing Ms Albanese. She's been a consistent, clear voice of courage, rule of law and humanity throughout this travesty.

[penelopelane]

It's not about being pro Israeli or pro Palestinian. It's about being pro rule of law and anti lawbreakers, whoever the breakers may be. And then, it's about being positively human—and against subhuman behaviour.

[mphist]

Brilliant. Thank you for bringing on Ms Albanese. Her continued fight for justice against so many odds is admirable.

[cosilvia]

I'm so glad you gave Albanese a platform on your channel, since you always have such interesting in-depth discussions about current affairs. I feel like she has been horribly and unjustly attacked. As I expected, this interview was great and I remain a huge admirer of her strenght, integrity and courage.

[dupontmd]

As a Jew I am so thankful for Ms. Albanese’s voice of reason and empathy. I am distantly related to Einstein and will never forget what he said about the occupation of Palestine. I resisted that notion but now realize that the only solution is for Israel to treat Palestinians as humans and have one state where they live in peace with Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Druzes, and non religious citizens of Israel the way we Jews have lived all over the world and became citizens of many nations. Fantastic conversation and couldn’t agree with her more.

[nuanain]

An incredible powerful person. Thank you Francesca for your inspiration!

[Bfg]

Rory doesn't come across well in this episode. Keeps deflecting from the topic and history. Let this intelligent and courageous woman speak her voice!

[h]

She is only polarising in world filled with moral cowards, nothing she says is remotely controversial

[truthsearcher]

Her job is to report on the Occupied Territories Rory, not to make Israeli friends. It's not her job to talk about how Israelis have been treated in the past either, as it doesn't give them the right to commit war crimes and genocide. She said she was an Ambassador for the UN not Palestine.

[beadmecreative]

Francesca Albanese is one of our modern hero

[birdpainter]

Heroic woman. Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

[orangesami]

I think it’s a bit demeaning to say the conclusions and positions that Ms Albanese determines is because she “feels” it instead of based on her remit as a legal advisor.

[sheriff_bart]

Rory really came off weak.
Keeps calling her polarising, she deserved better.
She was making clear legal arguments. She also made clear that her predecessors has been equally treated as aggressively by Israel.
By personalising it to her, he diminished the legal points that she was making.
The polarising parties should be those breaking the law and those who give them cover.

[josephdebri]

Polarising, is she? Nice one Rory. I wonder if you would introduce the Israelis that way. I'll bet not.

[no_humbug]

So you think Blair would have been a less polarising figure than Francessca, Rory, given his strong pro Israel bias, were he invited to perform this role? What you probably mean to say is that he would be a less polarising for the West and Israel. The West's basic instinct would always be on the side of Israel, given Israel is a piece of Europe in the Middle East. It is natural for the West to care more for their own kind. What is being allowed to happen to Gaza is borne of plain racism.

[marchekate]

Why would someone who cares passionately about human rights and international law be a polarising figure?