A TOP United Nations human rights expert has called for Israel to lose its seat on the international body over a “criminal attack” on the institution’s Palestinian base.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, tweeted that it was “time to unseat Israel from the UN”, in response to Israel’s bombing of Unrwa’s headquarters in Gaza.
Unrwa is the main UN agency in Palestine and supports the employment, health and education of people living in the territory.
Earlier this week, Philippe Lazzarini, Unrwa’s commissioner-general, shared photographs of its “flattened” Gaza headquarters on Twitter/X. He said: “Another episode in the blatant disregard of international humanitarian law.
“United Nations facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or fighting purposes.”
The agency itself responded to his post saying that its headquarters had been “completely destroyed”.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, added: “Israel’s criminal attack on the UN continues without any consequences.
“High time to take action against Israel including through unseating from the UN, as was done with apartheid South Africa.”
In response to Albanese's comments, the official Twitter/X account of the state of Israel said: "This is quite the statement coming from individuals who abuse their UN titles to justify Hamas savagery, promote terrorism, and spread hatred and lies."
It added that the Secretariat of the UN Human Rights Council and Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, to "hold Albanese and other mandate holders accountable for their vicious actions, and get them out of the system".
Many countries including the UK suspended funding for Unrwa after it was alleged to have links with Hamas.
The organisation has said that Israeli officials who made the claims had no evidence to back up their accusations. In a recent statement on its website, the agency said: “Unrwa has not received any information, let alone any evidence, from the Israeli authorities or any other member state about the […] claim.
“Unrwa became aware of this claim first from international media and later from a press briefing by an Israeli government official.”
Despite their strenuous denials, Britain remains alongside the USA the only country which withdrew funding not to reinstate it after a report by the UN also found no evidence to substantiate Israel’s claims.
The Guardian reported earlier this week that Labour Friends of Israel has called on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to restore funding.
Lammy has yet to institute any major changes to the UK’s approach to the conflict.
