‘You will be haunted forever’: UN envoy shames Israeli women on International Women’s Day

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has come under fire after shaming Israeli women on International Women’s Day, saying they will be “haunted forever”.

Albanese, who has been barred from entering Israel due to repeated inflammatory remarks, said her thoughts were with the “women and young girls of Gaza”.

“May they find the ‘second of safety’ they desperately need. My thoughts also go to the Israeli women, especially the soldiers: what have you done, what have you become. Dears, when you realise it, you will be haunted forever,” she said.

Israeli government spokesperson Elon Levy replied to Albanese’s comment, saying: “Our women soldiers are fighting to rescue their sisters who are being raped in the Hamas terror dungeons. Their consciences are clean.”

The UN envoy was harshly criticised on social media for her post as well as her failure to mention the 19 female hostages held in Gaza, some of whom have been sexually assaulted.

Albanese was also condemned for claiming that “the victims of the October 7 massacre were not murdered because of their Jewishness, but in response to Israeli oppression.”

The French Foreign Ministry rebuked Albanese, calling October 7 the “largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. Disputing it is a mistake. Seeming to justify it, by including the name of the United Nations, is a shame. These comments are all the more scandalous since the fight against antisemitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the UN.”

Two days after Hamas’ unprecedented massacre, the UN rapporteur issued a statement, saying: “Today’s violence must be put in context. Almost six decades of hostile military rule over an entire civilian population (incomprehensibly ignored by too many official statements & media outlets) are in themselves an aggression, and the recipe for more insecurity for all.”