— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs)
November 4, 2025
Albanese shared the post with her own comments, saying: “In Palestine there is NO ceasefire, NO peace, only destruction and the violence of ethnic cleansing.
"Watching world leaders play ‘let’s pretend’ with the light-heartedness of fourth graders playing Lego is sickening. We will all pay for their complicity & the insecurity it is sowing.”
The bill the post referred to, however, does not give the state power to execute “hostages”. Instead, it only gives courts discretion to impose the death penalty on those convicted of terror attacks motivated by nationalism or racism which led to the deaths of Israelis.
The legislation passed its initial reading in the Knesset after receiving the backing of Prime Minister Netanyahu, but is yet to become law – requiring three more parliamentary stages before implementation.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose far-right Otzma Yehudit party proposed the bill, has said the law should go further and give no discretion to courts on whether or not to impose the sentence.
"Every terrorist who goes out to murder must know that the death penalty will be imposed on him," he said.
But, even if such changes were made, it would not apply to Palestinians detained without charge or convicted of other terror offences – only those responsible for deadly terror attacks which claim Israeli lives.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, accused Albanese of promoting a “blood libel” with her post.
He told the JC: “Francesca Albanese’s latest post is pure disinformation and incitement. There is no Israeli bill to ‘execute Palestinian hostages’.
"The only hostages are the Israelis killed and still held by Hamas in Gaza. By calling convicted terrorists and detainees ‘hostages,’ the UN’s top official on human rights in Palestine erases Israeli victims and spreads blood libels.”
