‘It’s painful, but we need to see’: UN human-rights expert on Gaza fatigue

Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given. This week, he talks to Francesca Albanese. The 49-year-old is the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, an Italian lawyer, researcher and author. She has been a human-rights expert at the UN for more than two decades.

SEX

You’re the first woman to occupy this role. Is it an honour or a burden? 

It’s a huge responsibility, though I’ve now found my voice and have become more confident. And as I’ve become the target of continuous smears –which often reveal misogyny – this has given me even more stamina.

What is it about the plight of Palestinian women right now that you’d like the public to understand? 

What Palestinian people are enduring is as brutal as ever. But I hope people also understand that this is an unprecedented tragedy … Of course, women and young girls suffer enormously. But how men are often humiliated – think of the images of them made to kneel on the ground stripped to their underwear and blindfolded – shows there’s a mixed layer of violence inflicted on the Palestinians across genders.

When Palestinian suffering is highlighted, the counter-response is often, “Why are you not also highlighting Israeli suffering?” Shouldn’t we be able to highlight one people’s suffering without it being at the expense of another group’s? On the other hand, there are those who dismiss the documented sexual violence against Israeli women perpetrated by Hamas. What’s your take? 

I’m not comfortable with the dialectic of “Why do ‘Black Lives Matter’ when all lives matter?” We talk about black lives mattering because these are the most discriminated-against people in the US. As a special rapporteur, I focus on Palestinian rights because these are the ones violated under occupation.

But if there was one time when the international community was compelled to act even-handedly – and with wisdom – towards both people, it was October 7. Israelis suffered immensely: I don’t think [many people] understand how deeply that terror resonated across the Jewish community worldwide. Jewish people have suffered persecution, discrimination and dehumanisation for centuries. The Holocaust was not an act: it was the culmination of a process of dehumanisation of Jews that had taken place in Europe.

So I understand why Jewish people see Israel as a source of protection. But I don’t see why what they’ve suffered justifies what Israel is doing now. This didn’t start on October 7. If the horrors of violence justify more violence, we’re in a cycle that has no end. You don’t extinguish violence with violence. What Israel has done, I’m afraid, might trigger more violence. This is what I’m concerned about: how is this going to protect Israelis?

DEATH

What were you told about death growing up?

I’ve always been conscious of the fact that there’s natural death because of illness and death that has unnatural causes, such as war. There’s always a profound sense of injustice associated with unnatural death.

How do you begin to try to convey the scale of death happening in the occupied Palestinian territories – specifically Gaza – right now, especially when some regard it as “yet another conflict” in the region? 

People think it’s “yet another conflict” because they don’t realise what life is like under occupation. There’s a growing awareness, especially in Australia, about what settler colonialism is: taking control of land; occupying it; taking resources from people and pushing them out; limiting their space and the capacity of a culture or a polity to form and thrive.

Do you get death threats? 

Of course. People say, “We are going to come and kill you” on email and messages. Do I take them seriously? No, because they’re lunatics. They’re trolls most of the time. [But] in the beginning, yes, I was a bit scared.

BODIES

What’s something you cannot do with your body that you wish you could? 

Go to Israel and Palestine. There’s a procedure: I need to apply for a permit, and Israel denies me that permit. I have many friends in Palestine and Israel and would like to go to Gaza and see with my own eyes what’s happening there. And I’d like to multiply myself: I also have kids and need to be a mum.

What are you grateful that your body can do? 

Resist adversity. My body performs pretty well, given the lack of sleep and sometimes lack of food that the job demands. I can go a whole day without eating and my body still copes. This isn’t normal, so I do take care of myself as much as I can when I can. Another thing I should acknowledge is my body’s capacity to absorb positive energy that comes from all the support I receive and translate it back into energy.

What are our responsibilities when we see images of people’s bodies being destroyed? 

Our responsibility – as ordinary human beings and citizens in this world – is to not turn our eyes away. I know it’s painful, but we need to see. Repercussions are felt in our societies as well. Think of how Western countries are prohibiting demonstrations of solidarity with Palestinian people. We cannot assume protests in solidarity with the Palestinian people are an act of support of Hamas or of what Hamas has done, just as Jewish people cannot be held responsible for what Israel is doing – even if they love Israel and stand with Israel. The responsibility is the government’s. We must act to protect the freedom to protest, the freedom of association and assembly and the freedom to express ourselves.