“Apartheid Israel has created a torturous environment for millions of people” Francesca Albanese

 

On 24 March 2026, addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Francesca Albanese frames the statement as both a moral indictment and an appeal for urgent action. She rejects attempts to recast the issue as one of religion or identity, insisting that “It’s not about religion” and condemning what she describes as the “weaponizing the memory of the Holocaust.” She says the international response has been grossly inadequate to the scale of Palestinian suffering, pointing to killings, torture, starvation, and what she calls the “extreme unchilding” of Palestinian children. Her core message is that expressions of concern are empty without action, telling states plainly: “They do not need your condemnation. They need your action.”

She then turns to state responsibility, arguing that governments and institutions are complicit if they continue normal relations with Israel while denouncing abuses. Albanese says “diplomacy, in the time of genocide, is non-neutral,” and urges states to “stop aiding and assisting the unlawful occupation,” “Cut ties with it,” and support accountability through courts and arrests. She closes by widening the argument beyond Palestine, describing the moment as a “moral desertification of historic proportions” and calling for “a decolonized multilateralism” rooted in “equality, dignity, democracy, shared humanity.” The speech ends on a defiant, hopeful note: “when Palestine will be free, because it will be free, we will all be free.”