Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on what the global body considers “occupied” Palestinian areas, wants Israeli media figures to be prosecuted for inciting what she calls a “genocide” in Gaza.
“The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should investigate direct and public incitement to commit genocide by government officials and media figures as part of the ongoing Palestine investigation,” Albanese wrote in a July 21 report, which was released last week.
The International Criminal Court, which is an independent body in The Hague that is unconnected to the United Nations, issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The role of the Israeli media in inciting this genocide, by helping to foster an unchecked genocidal climate, ought to be examined judicially, as has occurred in other contexts,” Albanese wrote in an October 2024 report.
In the new report, which runs 29 pages, she states that “the Israeli government’s communication strategy has significantly manipulated media discourse, building on a long-standing pattern of dehumanization of Palestinians across Israeli media.”
The Israeli press “does not merely relay or amplify these narratives. In many instances, it explicitly incites to violence, including genocide, contributing to the normalization of mass atrocities.”
Albanese has drawn frequent criticism from Israel, the United States and Jewish leaders of antisemitism. Washington sanctioned her in part for that reason.
In her new report, she accuses Israel of killing 300 journalists in Gaza since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. Organizations that track the deaths of reporters have revised their counts after Hamas has claimed slain people, often listed as journalists, as among its martyrs.
The Israeli military recently released a list of what it said were 170 Palestinian “journalists” who were, in fact, “active members of militant or terrorist organizations.”
