Israel calling Francesca Albanese a witch!?

[Everexpanding]

I understand anti semite was losing its power to silence but now Israel is calling Francesca Albanese a witch??? At a meeting of the UN?
Has the Israeli government lost it’s mind

I listened to his speech - it was mostly a personal attack on Albanese and the concept of her being a witch was deeply woven into it. I agree it’s frankly bizarre.

Looks like he’s reading a prepared speech. Most likely not written by him. 🤔

No, one person has accused someone else of being a witch.

If for instance someone in our government, for argument say Wes Streeting went to a UN/Council/G7 summit whatever occasion where he was representing the UK and called someone a witch, I can likely assume thay our government would make a statement to condemn this, Wes would likely have to make a public apology and maybe lose his job.

I do agree that one man has said this - we have no idea what was written on his notes (as far as I know) so there is a possibility he went of on a tirade - would the Israeli government have advised him to say that, we can’t confirm.

From my understanding, I could be wrong, but the Israeli government has not condemned what he said as nonsense and that it was wrong, this is where I think there is error for the government as a whole.

UN Ambassadors do not write their own speeches. They are written for them by a team of policy experts as the speech must precisely reflect the official foreign policy of the ambassador's government. They do make impromptu remarks during Q&A sessions and press interactions but this was not that. It was a prepared speech which means it was reviewed and approved by the Israeli government. If I was him, I would have been furious as it made him look like a lunatic, not a professional diplomat.

We have no idea of knowing whether the witch comment was part of his speech or his personal opinion.

Either way it clearly does not represent the views of a whole country. Like Wes Streeting’s comments wouldn’t be if he said something controversial, keeping with the example used by @PevenseygirlQQ

No one is saying it's the views of the whole country. The point is, the speech would have been reviewed and approved no matter who wrote it and once again, Ambassadors don't write their own speeches, As well as what I said that whatever they say has to be carefully in line with their governments stance on the subject, they usually don't have time to be writing their own speeches.

He was talking about a report she’d authored which he disagreed with so was obviously going to be taking about her, and was stating opinions of her and her motives and Israel are not the only ones of that view.

She has called Israel worse, why can’t they retaliate?

I don’t think the concept of her being a witch was deeply woven into it, he said it a few times, probably got caught up in a theme. An extreme description but also Albanese is pretty extreme, in her supposedly impartial role, in publicly and blatantly displaying her anti Israel basis and support for Hamas, and the accusations against her are untenable for her position.

How can you write a report about what’s going on in Gaza without mentioning Hamas?

She is a disgusting woman and deserves all she gets IMO.

@Everexpanding is … the title of their thread is: Israel calling Francesca Albanese a witch!?

What a truly pathetic thread.

And very unpleasant at that. ‘Antisemite’ doesn’t mean anything anymore? Fuck’s sake.

I don't agree with calling women witches, its misogynistic but its hilarious to see people clutching their pearls about it. Silencing her? How does calling her a witch silence her? As if Israel care about diplomatic niceties where this woman is concerned, whose rabid hatred for Israel has completely clouded her judgement. Her twitter output is inflammatory and unprofessional by anyone's standards, quite apart from other things she's done and said.

"She has called Israel worse, why can’t they retaliate?". She hasn't called Israel worse during an official UN speech. This was the most insane official UN speech ever!

"I don’t think the concept of her being a witch was deeply woven into it"?? It was the main theme of the speech. He accused her of casting spells.

The real question is, which lunatic wrote and approved this speech. Watch the video. The whole speech is precisely and carefully written. This wasn't him rambling on. Someone, somewhere, needs their sanity checked.

Dare I say is … she does seem a bit of a witch!

Sorry that’s not very feminist of me. But the views expressed are purely my own.

That is the problem. When an ambassador speaks, he speaks 'as' his country. It's why I said all official speeches have to be reviewed and approved. That doesn't mean every Israeli person agrees but it is the official line of the Israeli government.

I don’t agree that an ambassador represents their whole country… feel like it’s only because it’s Israel involved that people are making this argument.

Quite happy to agree to disagree though. As a PP said it’s a pathetic thread.

Umm, look up the definition of an ambassador. It is literally their job to speak for their country whether in the UN or the embassy of any country they happen to be an ambassador in. It is precisely why foreign embassies are internationally classed as foreign soil.

I actually don't think calling her a witch is misogynistic. He could hardly have called her a warlock or wizard. Your opinion is fine. Not mine but that's okay.

Back in 2008 the Italian prime minister made a comment where he referred to Barrack Obama as “tanned” - and mentioned Naomi Campbell was also “tanned”.

This was seen as a diplomatic faux pas at best, many thought the comment racist.

People weren’t saying Italy was racist (or stupid), only the prime minister who made the comment.

Did he say it during an official speech at the United Nations? I'm guessing no. Lots of diplomats and politicians have made offensive comments but not when they are officially representing their country. Trump has a list a mile long. Had Danny Danon made a comment about Albanese being a witch at an unofficial moment, it would have been his comment and his alone. He didn't. He did it at the United Nations in a speech which would have been reviewed, edited, reviewed again and then approved by either the Israeli MFA or on a speech that was going to be as dramatic a verbal attack as this one, the prime ministers office. That's the difference.

I’ve watched the footage now. It’s exactly as I thought it would be: the Israeli statement was figurative. The references to curses, spells and witchcraft are all metaphors for the words and allegations of, and the motives of, a campaigning UN figure who is on a mission against Israel.

The subject of this thread is even more pathetic than I’d supposed.

Good effort but ultimately unconvincing that the whole of Israel is responsible for Damon’s crass comment.

( This is where you say no one’s saying it’s the whole country and we go round in another circle).

Okay. Good that you watched the footage. I don't think anyone thought that he was literally calling her a medieval witch but you never know. Maybe he wasn't being metaphorical. Personally I can't see anything more than an unprofessional bat s@@t crazy response to an official report from a Special Rapporteur, who has expressed damning opinions about Israel, justified or not. I think someone is taking page out of the Trump playbook on diplomacy.

You're right. This is getting ridiculous if this goes around again. So I'm going to say it this way. When a British politician goes to another country on a diplomatic mission and makes a speech to whoever, not everyone in the UK might agree with him but on an international platform, they are representing the UK and talking on behalf of the UK. As far as the audience is concerned, everything they say is what the UK is saying.

Hmm. I see it as a figurative and angry response from a government to someone with doubtful motives in attacking a nation that has been waging war against an existential threat - wider than Hamas - and that the nation has had enough of the UN bullshit.

I don’t recall Trump ever talking about witches. I suppose he might have done.

And I will suggest again that we agree to disagree.