Genocide as Colonial Erasure (w/ Francesca Albanese) | The Chris Hedges Report

Oct 29, 2024

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, details her findings on genocide against Palestinians. She discusses the systematic violence and destruction faced by the population in Gaza, emphasizing the psychological and physical torture inflicted. Albanese critiques the narratives of self-defense used by Israel and highlights the urgent need for international accountability. The conversation also touches on historic parallels to genocide and the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, urging listeners to recognize the ongoing struggle for human rights.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

Unpacking the Genocidal Narrative Against Palestinians

03:14 • 27min

Unpacking Genocidal Intent and State Justifications

30:10 • 4min

The Intersection of Occupation and Self-Defense in International Law

34:36 • 2min

Echoes of Trauma: The Palestinian Experience

36:16 • 8min

The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

44:30 • 27min

A Call to Accountability Amidst Genocide and Legal Impunity

01:11:53 • 6min

“The crime of all crimes.” That is how the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda declared genocide in the final judgment of Prosecutor v. Akayesu, the case against the mayor of Taba, Rwanda for crimes against humanity. Today, that crime repeats itself as UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese painfully details in her latest report.

Albanese joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to breakdown her report and present the indisputable evidence that Israel is actively committing a genocide on the Palestinian people.

“The acts of killing, the mass killing, the infliction of psychological and physical torture, the devastation, the creation of conditions of life that would not allow the people in Gaza to live, from the destruction of hospitals, the mass force displacement and the mass homelessness while people were being bombed daily, and the starvation—how can we read these acts in isolation?” Albanese asks.

The UN Special Rapporteur clearly outlines the steps and conditions required to meet the classification of genocide, and in the case of Gaza, it’s undeniable. Albanese tells Hedges, “What is relevant in order to establish that there is genocide is not just the intent behind these crimes, enunciated in Article II of the Genocide Convention; it’s the overall intent, specific intent, to destroy the people—the group as a whole, or in part, as such. And what is the group here? It's the Palestinians.”

Throughout the rest of Albanese’s report are harrowing details of the death and destruction Palestinians endure on a daily basis in countless forms, alongside the horror suffered by non-Palestinians in Gaza. Albanese documents record-breaking numbers: The highest number of journalists killed, the highest number of UN officials killed, the highest number of hospitals targeted, the destruction of all universities, the fastest rate of population starvation. It’s clear, according to Albanese, the scale of devastation the Israelis are inflicting is one of scorched-earth catastrophe.