Francesca Albanese did not come to Athens as a neutral technocrat for the UN.
Written by Ersi Papadaki
She came as a political persona, as a symbol of a particular ideological space that sees Israel as the root of all evil in the Middle East and the West as a permanent accomplice.
And of course he was rejected by the familiar audience of “flotillas”, professional activists, permanent protesters and domestic anti-Western circles who applaud every denunciation against Israel, as long as the word “Hamas”. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories toured Athens with stops at the Trianon, the Panteion and book presentations, with faces from the Greek left and the wider “anti-imperialist” scene by her side.
At close quarters, the familiar line of the “Newspaper of the Editors”, which almost presented her as a heroine of resistance against the “dark West”. The image was almost cinematic. Packed halls, emotional speeches, denunciations of “genocide”, “apartheid”, “necrocapitalism” and the “Israeliisation of societies”. Only that in all this political manifesto there was a deafening absence. Actually not one, many:October 7. The massacres of civilians. The babies murdered. The hostages. The rapes. The terrorism of Hamas.
Albanez spoke for hours about the “dehumanization” of Palestinians, the “trauma” of societies and the “occupation.” He even went so far as to declare that Israel has been “criminal since its inception.” Heavy political statement, almost a questioning of the very legitimacy of the existence of the Jewish state. And yet, not a single clear, straightforward, outright condemnation of Hamas. Not a single mention of who started the latest round of bloodshed. Not a single sentence about a terrorist organization that uses civilians as human shields and has as its official charter the elimination of Israel.
Instead, she chose to talk about “Israelization of societies,” associating Israel with authoritarianism, surveillance and repression.A politically charged and dangerous generalization, especially when uttered by an official with a UN title. Because when you only talk about the crimes of one side and silence the crimes of the other, you cease to be a rapporteur and become a political activist.
They found a new “symbol”
It is no coincidence that Albanese became a headline and almost a cultural idol in certain media. The Greek left is constantly looking for international figures to confirm its ideological narrative of “evil Israel”, “guilty West” and “resistance peoples”. And the Italian official offers exactly this package. With activist language, charged expressions, easy historical parallels and a rhetoric that turns a complex geopolitical conflict into a black and white play.
But the problem begins when such positions are presented as the supposedly objective voice of international law. Because international law does not operate with selective blindness. It does not only see the dead on one side. It does not only denounce one crime and silence the other because it is not politically convenient for the audience. And most importantly, it does not applaud organizations and “flotillas” that present themselves as humanitarian while often functioning as political pressure mechanisms with a clear ideological focus.
The Gaza debate is serious. The civilian deaths are real. The children lost are a real tragedy. No serious person can ignore it. But seriousness ends when analysis turns into one-sided propaganda. When Israel is presented as the sole source of violence and Hamas disappears from the frame, then we have no human rights advocacy. We have political recruitment with an international stamp. And somewhere in there, amidst the applause of “flotillas”, the headlines of the domestic left and theories of “Israelization”, the basic point is lost: truth is never unilateral.
