There are times when even the Guardian is beyond parody. The newspaper which recently published an article by Iran’s foreign minister – as Iranian propaganda does not get a sufficient airing in the West – can be relied upon to find the worst possible take on any subject, even the opening of a cake shop. Last month one of its football writers described the opening of a Gail’s (which was founded but is no longer owned by an Israeli) near a Palestinian-owned café, as ‘symbolic, an act of heavy-handed high-street aggression.’
There is, of course, a common thread to the above: Jews. The progressive paper of record has a thing about Jews, especially when they live in Israel. Israel is bad and so anything and anyone which is against Israel is therefore good. Which brings us to today’s edition. Across the front-page masthead is a picture of Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, next to the quote: ‘You’re defeated the moment you stop fighting.’
It’s clear to whom Albanese is referring: herself. Still, there’s a wonderful irony that the point she is making is the rationale for the military action taken by Israel against the terrorists which work for its destruction.
Soft soap barely comes close to describing the interview. Albanese is portrayed from the start as a heroic figure battling on our behalf against nasty, evil people. Have a guess who those nasty, evil people are.
As for Albanese herself, we are told in the first paragraph that she is wildly popular. ‘Before we could start, the waitress wanted a photo with the Italian human rights lawyer. So did the cashier. Then the cook came out of the kitchen in his whites for a group photo. Some of the customers wanted their turn. Albanese was gracious with all comers and chatty in three languages, so the process took some time. Albanese, 49, has been getting similar rock star welcomes everywhere she goes lately.’
And no wonder. The woman is a veritable heroine. A goddess. A saviour. As the interviewer puts it: ‘Albanese’s demonisation by the Trump administration [she has been sanctioned by the US] has only enhanced her status as a popular hero to some. She is part of a small but striking resurgence of the left spurred by Gaza outrage in the west that also includes Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win in New York and the rise of Zack Polanski and the Green party in the UK.’
But here’s the thing. At no point in the interview does it occur to the interviewer to point out to readers, let alone to quiz Albanese, why she has been sanctioned by the US. Or why governments of so many different political hues – including France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria– have sought to have her removed as a UN rapporteur. Even the UK government called last month for an ‘urgent investigation’ into Albanese over her ‘series of comments.’ But there is barely any mention at any point in the interview of just why it is that she arouses such anger in her role.
Instead we get this: ‘When I canvassed others in the international human rights field on their views of Albanese before our interview, I found great admiration for her commitment and impact, caveated in a few cases by regret that she has mixed the language of the dispassionate lawyer with the passionate rhetoric of a political campaigner.’
‘The passionate rhetoric of a political campaigner’ is one way of describing how Albanese has described not just Israel but Jews. According to the interviewer, ‘she has used her megaphone consistently over the past two years not just to condemn the Israeli government and its military, but also the constellation of western states and corporations that have abetted them.’ She has used that megaphone to make other points, too.
She used it to criticise French President Emmanuel Macron’s characterisation of the October 7 attack as the ‘largest antisemitic massacre of our century’. She tweeted in response to his words that that the victims, ‘were not killed because of their Judaism but in response to Israel’s oppression.’ The attack was, she said, a ‘reminder’ of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
She questioned the truth of the sexual assaults and rapes committed on 7 October, 2023 and has written that ‘the Israeli lobby is clearly inside [the BBC’s] veins’ and spoken of ‘Israel’s greed’. In 2024, she retweeted a claim that the ‘Israel lobby has bought and paid for Congress.’ She has written that the US is ‘subjugated by the Jewish lobby’.
Last September, she said that ‘380,000 children under five’ were killed in Gaza – more than the entire population of children under five in Gaza. At a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on 24 March, Albanese was directly challenged on her words by the director of NGO UN Watch, Hillel Neuer. ‘On September 15, you said “380,000 children under five” were killed in Gaza. Are you aware, this is more than the entire population of children under five in Gaza? Albanese did not respond.
None of this – not a word, not a dot, not a comma – is deemed by the Guardian as worthy of bringing to readers’ attention. Which surely says all you need to know about them.
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