A United Nations official who blamed Israel for Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack called the Jewish state a genocidal "military dictatorship" during a Brown University panel on Monday evening.
At the event—"Anatomy of a Genocide: A Failure of the International System?"—hosted by Brown’s Center for Middle East Studies, the U.N.’s special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of arbitrarily arresting Palestinians and designating groups as terrorist organizations.
"This is why I call it a military dictatorship, because it applies military orders written by soldiers, applied by soldiers, reviewed in military courts," Albanese said. "Maintaining a military dictatorship over 5 million people is not the best way to be loved by these 5 million people."
"Since the very beginning of this assault … I have announced the risk of genocide because of the genocidal statements [Israel’s made]," she continued. "It has been very violent rhetoric that emanated from an ideological hatred against the Palestinians."
Albanese also said the only way for Israel to ensure its security is to withdraw from Gaza, stop oppressing Palestinians, and stop imposing "apartheid." She’s consistently made similar comments blaming Israel for threats to its safety. A month after Oct. 7, Albanese justified the attack, telling the Sydney Monthly Herald that "violence breeds violence" and that Hamas is "entitled to embrace resistance."
The event's host, Center for Middle East Studies director Elias Muhanna, asked Albanese to clarify her stance on armed resistance. She reiterated that Hamas terrorists who attacked the Israeli military on Oct. 7 engaged in "a legitimate act of resistance."
"I’ve not qualified the entire attack on the seventh of October as an illegitimate act of resistance because targeting military bases and military objects is a legitimate act of resistance," she said.
Muhanna also read an audience question that asked Albanese to weigh in on radicalism in Gaza, noting that "Mein Kampf is popular" there. A March 2023 report by independent watchdog groups found that Gaza schools "regularly call to murder Jews and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite anti-Semitism."
"Given the extremism rampant in at least certain sectors of Gazan society, what role should the U.N. play in deradicalizing Gazans to achieve peace?" Muhanna asked, echoing the audience member.
Albanese denied those claims.
"No, there is no such thing like an idealization of Mein Kampf or anti-Semitism," Albanese said. She said those concerns were an overstatement, arguing that the Arab world's animosity is directed at Israel over the Jewish state's occupation in Gaza and is distinct from anti-Semitism in Europe.
Albanese has a history of disparaging Israel. She has liked posts on X endorsing the anti-Semitic trope of the "Jewish billionaire class," and just hours after the Oct. 7 attack, said the "violence must be put in context." In November, she argued that Israel does not have a right to defend itself against Hamas because it is an armed group within "occupied territory" and not "another state."
Albanese has also repeatedly used her position as a U.N. official to denounce the Jewish state. In March, the U.N. published her report, "Anatomy of a Genocide." In it, she accused Israel of committing genocide and advancing a "settler-colonial project in Palestine." Albanese also wrote that Israel’s leaders and military have "intentionally distorted" international law regarding war conduct to "legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people."
In December, she said it isn’t a crime for Palestinians to kill Israeli soldiers, called it "unacceptable" to demand Hamas release its hostages, and condemned Israel over the violence used to rescue four of them.
Israel banned Albanese from the country in February, calling her past statements anti-Semitic. Last year, the International Legal Forum—an activist group of more than 4,000 lawyers—similarly called on the U.N. to fire Albanese for her "anti-Semitism and virulent bias" and for "endorsing the murder of Israeli civilians, including children."
Brown professor Fulvio Domini moderated the Monday event. Both he and Muhanna signed letters supporting a ceasefire in Gaza and students’ anti-Semitic boycott, divest, and sanctions movement.
Members of the Brown community had circulated a letter urging the Ivy League school to cancel the speech, citing Albanese’s anti-Semitic history.
A Brown University spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon that the school is committed to "independent thought, free inquiry, and the open exchange of ideas," and that all community members have the "right to invite speakers of their choice."