Francesca Albanese: Unrelenting For the Sake of Palestine

When Francesca P. Albanese talks, she is rattling out data and numbers as if they have been tattooed in her brilliant brain. This United Nations Rapporteur for the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestine Territories Occupied since 1967 brings her heart and head together, and her tall stature hovers over the cowardice of those who refuse to acknowledge the violence in Palestine. It is easy to imagine how she will age: as the Italian Nonna, who sang Bella Ciao, and uttering repeatedly and tirelessly the G word—Genocide.

When Albanese entered the massive hall of 150 people at Ireland라이브 바카라 Maynooth University on a sunny evening, she was welcomed with a standing ovation. The science of sound creating vibrations is true: I could feel the goosebumps from the loud applause of a hall full of people wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh. Going by the way her eyes became wide and misty, I believe she too may have felt the hair on her spine wake up to the sound of those appreciating her fierce work.

In the last 17 months, videos of Albanese speaking at different forums have been widely circulated across social media. Her words are not mere ideological polemic, but stem from meticulous legal documentation of the ravages of war in Palestine. She has published five reports since 2022, most notable of them titled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’ and ‘Genocide as Colonial Erasure’ that were submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council and United Nations General Assembly.

Albanese is a tall woman, and that라이브 바카라 not just about her stature for her voice against Israel라이브 바카라 crimes against Palestinians. Dressed in a grey suit with wide trousers, she does not let her height and lean physique prevent her from wearing boots with block heels. Her red earrings cup the face that has become the symbol of what people in powerful positions ought to be doing. She exudes a sense of stardom, by virtue of simply doing the right thing: of being the investigative lawyer and writing reports that assert, in no uncertain terms, that what Israel has been committing in Palestine, is indeed a genocide.

The hall is a sea of mostly Caucasian folks, wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh. As soon as we were seated, and before the introductions began, we were made aware—like in any indoor public gathering in Ireland—of the safety exits. The main entry and exit way, through which the audience as well as Albanese entered, had a Garda standing. She has, after all, faced the possibility of arrest in Germany for speaking up against Israel.

It라이브 바카라 nice to be among friends, so go-reev-magut (‘Thank you’ in Gaeilge).

Her own attempt at Gaeilge makes her laugh and makes us joyous. And then, she tells us she will now share the dark tales.

‘It is a Genocide’

Albanese shares how she knew the textbook definition of genocide, and understood it to only be about concentration camps, and what was done to the Tutsis and Bosniaks, where the intent to destroy was clearly articulated.

“Genocide is not an exception in history, but it has been a constant in settler colonialism. It is a process and not a singular act.

“Genocide takes place when the dehumanisation has been so normalised that nobody feels compelled anymore to do something.”

She speaks without a pause; historical contexts and data punctuating every statement. There is much that we already know, but she frames them in a way to make them anew—pushing against intellectual and compassion fatigue.

“Israel has never denied its intent of what it is doing in Gaza.

“I have already counted 93 massacres since March 2024.

“Israel has been using humanitarian jargon to justify its violence. It will be the new modus operandi elsewhere, as we have already seen in Lebanon.”

She peppers her talk with bits from her recent visit to “your neighbour” (the UK) that does not hide her disbelief at some of the assumptions that the UK still holds about all that has been going on in Palestine.

“How do we count the massacre since the time of British colonialism when Palestine was handed to the Zionists?

The UK Foreign Secretary was almost ready to say Israel is violating international law, but Keir Starmer said that he wasn’t so sure.

Israel has been violating international law since before Starmer라이브 바카라 birth, and this has been well documented and there are libraries full of this.”

She makes the link between the past and the present seamlessly, while telling us what라이브 바카라 being done in Palestine is what was done on the lands of indigenous people.

“We should stop saying ‘Irish famine’. It was a British famine inflicted upon the Irish people. People did not die in a single day but died slowly every day.

“In Germany, they do not understand what genocide is, and do not want to even understand it. Germans think that there is only one genocide.

Her eye-roll is not hers alone, but a collective one. She has heard too often about how her reports from her investigations in Palestine have irked a section of Jewish folks around the world. But she is not deterred.

“Judaism is not the same as Zionism. Those who have protected me are Jewish scholars and Jewish organisations, and so I take offence when Zionists claim to speak on behalf of all Jewish people. Zionism has more flags than feet.”

Albanese has perfected the art of delivering facts in a manner that detractors listen, in a manner that wearing the keffiyeh has their solidarities rekindled.

At every event that she has been invited, she speaks of the same truth, but in a language that conveys the dark horrors that children are bearing witness to in Palestine, and yet at the same time, without a shred of exhaustion. She attempts a metaphor to explain the impact of the people라이브 바카라 protests:

“When you plan a seed… then the roots… you know…”

She moves her hand as if she라이브 바카라 swimming; she stops midway; she is tired. She has run out of the thread to tie the metaphor to her point. We laugh and clap on her own admission of her human fatigue. But then she remembers that she does not need the crutch of a metaphor, but that she has a concrete example. She looks at us, pointedly, as if to tell us, teach us.

“You have been rattling the cage the most in Europe.

Palestine has not been fully displaced and that라이브 바카라 because of actions like yours.”

The lawyer had much to assure this Irish audience, many of whom had been protesting on the streets of Dublin and other cities across Ireland, almost every Saturday, without seeing any tangible result: the bombs continue to kill children in Palestine, the ceasefire continues to be violated, the Irish Parliament continues to dilly-dally on the Occupied Territories Bill that would ban and criminalise “trade with and economic support for illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law”. What can we do, we ask this tall wise woman, who seems indefatigable.

“Your protests are conveying to Palestinians that they are not dying in oblivion.

I can’t teach any average Irish person how to use their voice to protest.

Being an activist is a healthy part of society, reminding where we should stand.”

But beyond the assurances of the need for an Ireland with a conscience to continue taking to the streets, she has her list of what Ireland has done right so far:

Ireland is still one of the most decent and responsible states in the European Union (EU) and it has the courage, along with South Africa, to intervene before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Even before the case of genocide, the UN General Assembly decided to give Israel 12 months! What have the Member States done to hold Israel accountable to this deadline of September 2025? Instead, Israel has accelerated the annexation of Palestine!”

Albanese라이브 바카라 response to what can be done is not without the anger of what hasn’t been done yet.

“The EU is still a trading partner of Israel, and Ireland and Spain are the only countries to review the trade, but simply reviewing is not enough. If the EU won’t, then member states can suspend trade.

Ireland should make a commitment to investigate and prosecute those who committed the war crimes. It is the obligation of UN member states to prevent, stop and punish genocides.

Last year, Ireland recognised Palestine, but it was 30 years late! It is embarrassing and colonial too, to advocate for reform in Palestine, when our job is to ensure that their external situation [of colonisation] changes.

Ireland does not want to upset the US because of the economic ties, but shouldn’t the Irish government consult its people, to see if they would be ready to take a risk by standing against Israel?

This is the first settler genocide that has the potential to be adjudicated.”

She has not been known to speak in a coy manner. Her passion is infectious, enough to charge the last person on a street protest to come back again for the next one. She is now investigating the businesses that have made genocide a profitable enterprise.

“Palestine is a crime scene with all the fingerprints of Israel as well as those who did not stop the genocide.”

“Who will protect a defenceless Palestine?”

Her rhetorical question is not for us to answer in words, or reflect in our comfortable spaces, but to be viewed as vitamins for action, as a collective.

“Why does international law keep getting violated repeatedly? Why is international law not taken as seriously as traffic laws?

“UN member states are aware that Palestine라이브 바카라 right to exist is non-negotiable. But if you are not free, how do you negotiate?

“There was no tribunal to decide the divestment from apartheid South Africa. So why are we hair-splitting when there is call for sanctions against Israel?

“The burden of proof, on whether to collaborate with Israeli universities or not, should be on Irish universities themselves. Look at the universities in Israel: have any of them condemned and expre­ssed grief over the killing of 18,000 Palestinian children?”

“In Germany, they do not understand what genocide is, and do not want to even understand it. Germans think that there is only one genocide.”

As if the stream of videos of children dying and their siblings picking them isn’t heartbreaking to watch already, Albanese라이브 바카라 ability to spit out her investigated numbers is what makes her the lawyer you would want, to protect yourself. But she라이브 바카라 not taking on just anyone as her client, that much is clear. She is tired, she is angry, and she knows that spaces like where she is invited to speak are a euphemism for collective grieving. And there are a few points that she is convinced about:

“I have this platform now, and so I must make the best use of it.

“I am convinced that we will stop the genocide; there are signs for that. But we should let it be the last genocide of humanity.”

As the sunny evening gave way to a cold night and loud seagulls, and as Albanese was wrapped in another standing ovation and whistles, I was not as convinced if this would be the last genocide of my lifetime. I head to the train station, while scrolling my phone to see the latest updates about attacks and the stack of dead bodies. But I am in Ireland, where we still have the space to be collectively angry, in comparison to the US. And so I head home with her last words piercing my ears more than the winds:

“We don’t all have to be warriors, but we can be decent human beings.

If not now, when? If not Ireland, who?”

(Views expressed are personal)

Priyanka Borpujari is an independent journalist currently based in Dublin, Ireland