'Grotesque and delusional': Francesca Albanese hits back at Israeli envoy after he called her a 'witch'

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations lashed out at the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, calling her a "witch" after she presented her latest report on third-state complicity in the genocide in Gaza before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. 

“You are a witch, and this report is another page in your spellbook," Danny Danon told Albanese, accusing her of trying to "curse Israel with lies and hatred". 

"Every page of this report is an empty spell, every accusation a charm that does not work because you are a failed witch," he continued.

Albanese appeared unfazed by the ambassador's tirade, responding: "It is grotesque and frankly delusional that a genocidal state can't respond to the substance of my findings, and the best thing that he resorts to is accusing me of witchcraft."

Riffing off of Danon’s bizarre metaphor, she added that if she “had the power to make spells, I would use it not for vengeance, but to stop your crimes once and for all".

The report "Gaza Genocide: a collective crime" examines the responsibility of over 60 countries for the "collective crime" of enabling Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

"These horrors (in Palestine) are neither sudden nor accidental. They are the culmination of decades of moral and political failure within a resilient colonial world order sustained by a global system of complicity," Albanese said, speaking from Cape Town, South Africa instead of New York due to the US sanctions that were imposed on her earlier this year.

"International law is clear. No state may aid or assist another commit another committing international crimes. This is neither charity nor a matter of choice," she continued. 

She called for UN member states to exert pressure for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the suspension of “all military trade and diplomatic relations with Israel".