UN envoy declares Israel’s right to defend itself ‘non-existent’

Francesca Albanese claims Israel can’t fight back against a threat from ‘a territory under occupation.’

By World Israel News Staff

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Territories, declared that Israel’s right to defend itself, even against the Hamas atrocities on October 7th, is “non-existent.”

Speaking to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia on Tuesday, Albanese said, “Israel cannot claim the right of self-defense against a threat that emanates from a territory it occupies, from a territory that is under belligerent occupation.”

Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005 and removed all of its citizens from the area. The Hamas atrocities on October 7th occurred on territory that has been recognized as an integral part of Israel since its founding in 1948.

Albanese did acknowledge that Israel did have a right to respond or prevent the attack, but these activities would be limited to efforts to “establish law and order, to repel the attack, neutralize whomever was carrying out the attacks…not waging war.”

She stressed, “What’s being done is wrong. How many more people need to die?”

Albanese’s remarks echo statements made by Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, last week when he said Israel forfeited the right to defend itself because it was an “occupying power.”

Nebenzya said Israel’s right to self-defense “can only be fully guaranteed if we resolve the Palestinian issue based on relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

He added, “The Jewish people suffered persecution for many centuries and the Jewish people should know better than anyone that the suffering of ordinary people, innocent lives lost in the name of blind retribution, will neither restore justice, nor bring the dead back to life, nor console their families.”