The State Department on Wednesday suggested the author of a UN human rights report that says there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide is anti-Semitic as a way to dismiss the allegations.
The author of the report, Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, presented it to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
“Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent, causing seriously serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group,” Albanese said.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller was asked about the report and said the US has for a “longstanding period of time opposed the mandate of this special rapporteur” and accused Albanese of having a “history of anti-Semitic comments.”
Miller said Albanese had made comments “that appeared to justify the attacks of October 7.” Albanese enraged Israeli officials earlier this year for writing on X that the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack “were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims.”
Miller did not address the substance of Albanese’s detailed report and repeated the US position that it denies Israel is committing genocide. “With respect to the report itself, we have made clear that we believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded,” he said.
Albanese’s report came months after the International Court of Justice ruled that it’s “plausible” Israel is committing genocide. The court’s final ruling on the case won’t happen for a few years, but if Israel is found guilty of genocide, the US would be implicated due to its strong military support for Israeli operations in Gaza.
Nothing could possible justify the massacre of 7.Oct. The 400+ Israeli civilians murdered by IDF gunships and tanks should never be forgotten. The Likud has buckets of blood on their hands.
…not to mention the Mossad informers among the Hamas fighters.
Nice try. But just another lie my friend.
More interesting is all the IDF weapons Al-Qassem is using. Must be some rich IDF quartermasters out there
Only “Reasonable grounds” ? It is obvious to most of the planet what is going on. Why are people of authority so hesitant to say that Israel by all accounts is clearly in no uncertain terms conducting a genocide. I mean like what more does Israel have to do to prove it? What more does Israel have to do to get the world governments to take action to stop it?
He remembered that talking point was burning a hole in his back pocket all along. Violins ready, tears in eyes awaiting! Steven Spielberg, here is another award winning movie idea. You’re welcome.
When else fails attack the messenger.
Lie, deny, then alibi.
Albanese is telling the truth, speaking to the facts and anyone who has been viewing the atrocities against unarmed people in real time, knows it is the TRUTH. Biden and his mouthpieces have condoned Netanyahu’s War Crimes, have supplied the weapons for his War Crimes and now have to try to defend themselves. Someone needs to tell Miller, he can NOT hide from his actions and hopefully he will be charged, sitting right next to Netanyahu, Biden, Trump, Blinken, Sullivan, Members of Congress. The World needs to know, War Crimes, War Criminals, will be punished, no matter who they are.
I doubt they will, but the US will eventually experience the wrath.
This year the Untied States will decide whether it’s going to reelect a war criminal for the second time in only 16 years, or if it’s going to reelect a blatantly insane orangutan so that he can become a war criminal. By all the gods, moving to Peru is sounding better all the time.
Wake up Knapp.
I’ve been awake for about eight hours. Which is not the same as having been here for eight hours. What’s your complaint?
You released my comments. Maybe get more sleep, you sound cantankerous.
I’m cantankerous no matter how much sleep I get, but today I’m downright joyful, relatively speaking.
I probably should switch back from regular coffee to similar quantities of espresso, though. That would reduce the cantankerousness. Not eliminate, but reduce.
Why did you stop expresso?
I started drinking cold brew, and espresso tends to 1) be sensitive for cold brew, getting bitter if left to steep for two long and 2) be too fine a grind for the French press I use to make my cold brew.
Sometimes I just brew espresso and refrigerate it overnight instead of doing actual cold brew. And sometimes I drink regular coffee K-cups with a higher than normal caffeine content. But usually it’s just a dark roast regular grind cold brew.
Yeah, I like dark and expresso.
Miller said Albanese had made comments “that appeared to justify the attacks of October 7.” Albanese enraged Israeli officials earlier this year for writing on X that the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack “were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims.”
And anyone who says 9/11 was blowback was of course justifying those planes running into our buildings (/s). Giving your reasons for something happening isn’t justifying that something happening.
Very true … but I’m sure you remember that people like us who were mentioning blowback were indeed accused of justifying (rather than explaining) the atrocity.
Yup. 9/11, National Blowback Day. I think I heard Ron Paul call it that first.
Yup. 9/11, National Blowback Day. I think I heard Ron Paul call it that first.
I think it was Rudy Giuliani who attacked Ron Paul for his “blowback” comment in the Presidential debate. Giuliani accused Ron Paul of “blaming America for 9/11.”
Giuliani also said he had never heard of the blowback explanation for 9/11.
Giuliani loved to strut around portraying himself as a terrorism expert because he happened to be the mayor of a city that was attacked. But his ignorance was boundless.
Yeah, he was such a “terrorism expert” that, upon his election as mayor, he created an emergency response center … at the site of the most recent major terrorist attack, and the most likely (and, as it happened, actual), site of the NEXT major attack in the city, and then spent the next several years failing to correct a major problem revealed in that first attack (the difficulty of coordination when each emergency response service uses a different communications system).
“Giving your reasons for something happening isn’t justifying that something happening.”
Yep…Even liberals get this when it suits them: “”Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
“Asked about the report, [Miller]… accused Albanese of having a ‘history of anti-Semitic comments.’
Miller dismissed further questions after a hand reached out of a small dark cloud and stroked his head, and a voice rasped, ‘Gooood, my pet, soooon you will be rewarded.’
https://youtu.be/EzfkxAC-Bw8?feature=shared
Disgusting excusers of genocide …
“what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul … “
And yet the Democratic Party expects us to vote for the man enabling this horror.
Smearing Israel critics as antisemitic is one of the main weapons in the US-Israel rhetorical arsenal. The go-to ad hominem for any challenge to ‘the Israel narrative.’
As with American anti-communism, it is a smear that can harm friendships, jobs and reputation. A smear whose purpose is to discredit – and avoid engaging with criticisms. A smear whose most basic purpose is to shut up political speech.
The fact that – like Israel – this White House labels the UN critic antisemitic – prominently, and as its first and last interview response – is not just a sleazy individual act:
coming from the highest levels of US government, it is far more harmful, authorizing an anti-American, anti-democratic politics for use at every level of government, workplace, media and society.
Versus the ‘mainstreamed’ black live matter movement – when you could see BLM posters on pickets in liberal and even right-wing residential settings – think about your life: would you feel safe putting a pro-Gaza slogan in your window? How about wearing a pro-Gaza pin, like some celebrities did at the Emmy’s? Would you feel safe wearing that tiny pin in public…to your job…to complete business in a city or state office? To a cultural event?
Israel’s supporters use accusations of anti-Semitism as a means of silencing critics and preventing a public discussion on the issues.
Peace is now officially antisemitic in the Western world.
Killing 32,000 Semitic people in Gaza is the ultimate in antisemitism.
The term “antisemitism” needs to go in the dustbin of history.
Even Ethiopians are Semites, since they speak a Semitic language.
Yeah well clearly you missed the memo. The freedom of speech and press is dead. It was on life support and died suddenly when the US made a policy that speaking against Isreal the country or thier politics is Anti-Semitism. Democracy, is dead.
Palestinians defend against an oppressive Jewish religious state by fighting for freedom against Jewish apartheid. Modern Palestinians make it clear why the US constitution separates church and state.
I’ve pointed out in several other forums that the French largely supported the French Resistance in the 1940s, so people shouldn’t be surprised that Palestinians support the Palestinian Resistance.
So far the only coherent responses that I’ve gotten to that observation has been profanity.
The state department is making the world much more perilous for innocent Jewish people. By equating all Jews with Zionist Israelis committing genocide, he has put a target on everyone’s back, both people not involved and people opposed.
This slight of hand, parlor trick is not working and is outright dangerous. They are creating the very antisemitism that they are charging everyone with. How invested in murder and mayhem must you be, to attach everyone?
May karma greet you soon, Miller. Much deserved desserts are coming.
Please send this to Miller. Generational traumas, indoctrination and an actual potential path forward:
Gaza Besieged, Jews Divided, & a World in Pain: Gabor,
Aaron, & Daniel Maté in Conversation
Gabor Maté and sons Aaron and Daniel got together in Vancouver BC to discuss what’s happening in Gaza, Israel, and the worldwide Jewish community.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=azxtxKyHntA
The problem is that this isn’t at all about security or defense. It is about imperialistic expansion and the desperation of fading hegemony. It’s still really worth a listen by actual humans and not MIC robots.
Because the accusation of Anti-Semitism from these usual suspects has nothing to do with hatred of Jews or hatred of anything at all really, but rather means the accused is someone with high moral standards, upholds the principles and the universality of human rights, values human life, despises racism in all forms or could simply mean the accused opposes genocide – anyone with a moral standing above that of a sadistic serial killer should aspire to be an Anti-Semite.
Yet, even though the equation of principled anti-racism with anti-Semitism – even if Jews are supposed to be the master-race in this particular form of racism – would serve to obscure the fact that actual anti-Semitism does exist, no one should ever fall for that. No one should be surprised that those being accused of anti-Semitism today would also be the same people clearest on rejecting actual anti-Semitism. Being of high moral standing forces consistency.
In this light, I would be perfectly unsurprised to find that Israel firsters likely to throw around accusations of anti-Semitism to anyone criticizing Israeli Apartheid or for example daring to call a genocide a genocide are more likely to be of the kind that, lets say stand up in Canadian parliaments to applaud Nazi’s.
“Being of high moral standing forces consistency….[whereas those] likely to throw around accusations of anti-Semitism…are more likely to be of the kind that, lets say stand up in Canadian parliaments to applaud Nazi’s.”
Whoah! Now hold on they’uh, yew Jiw-hatin’ Putin-lovuh, yew! Thems is OUR Nazis!
There is a very intense and concentrated smear campaign against anyone who doesn’t toe the Israeli line not just the ones who criticize the Israeli actions.
Hope folks will see Krystal Ball on the Albanese report and Miller’s vile and lying ‘antisemitic’ smear.
For those who don’t know “Breaking Points,” Ball’s coverage of Gaza is among the best, imo:
Youtube:
Breaking Points, “Biden Admin SMEARS UN Genocide Expert as Anti-Semite”
I saw this earlier today. Very good!