Afrasianet - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has confirmed that the world has given Israel free hand to torture Palestinians, noting that torture has become a "state policy" in Israel.
This came during the presentation of the UN expert to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
The UN expert described life in the occupied territories as "a continuous series of physical and psychological suffering," saying that "Israel has effectively given a license to torture Palestinians, because most of your governments and ministers have allowed it."
The Albanese report said that Israel is systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale that "indicates collective revenge and destructive intent," as the report asserted that torture goes beyond prison walls, in what can only be described as "an environment of torture imposed by Israel on the entire occupied Palestinian territory."
"Torture destroys the elements of life, robs human dignity, and leaves nothing but empty ghosts," she said, stressing that the testimonies she and many others document are not just tragic stories of suffering, "but are evidence of brutal crimes that target the entire Palestinian people, throughout the occupied territory, through a series of criminal behaviors."
Albanese warned that the international reaction would be a test of the collective legal and moral responsibility of states. "The disregard for international law will not stop at Palestine. It is already manifesting itself from Lebanon to Iran, across the Gulf states, and in Venezuela. If it is not curbed, it will extend much further."
A call to prosecute the leaders of the occupation
In her report, the UN expert called for the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The report addresses "Israel's systematic use of torture against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since October 7, 2023."
Since October 2023, "arrests of Palestinians in the occupied territories have escalated significantly," with more than 18,500 people arrested, including at least 1,500 children, the UN expert said in the report.
The report said that some 9,000 Palestinians remain in detention, while "more than 4,000 people have been subjected to enforced disappearance."
Albanese stressed that Israel's detention system "has slipped into a system of systematic and widespread humiliation, coercion, and terrorism."
Israeli attack
After her presentation, the Israeli mission in Geneva accused Francesca Albanese of being a "tool of chaos." "Any document she issues is nothing but inflammatory political rhetoric," she said, accusing her of "promoting dangerous extremist rhetoric aimed at undermining the existence of the State of Israel."
The UN expert has faced harsh criticism and accusations of anti-Semitism, with Israel and some of its allies calling for her dismissal over her continued criticism and repeated accusations of "genocide".
Israel has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and injured 172,000 others since it launched a genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, that left widespread destruction of 90% of infrastructure.
