UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Robert Balfour, Francesca Albanese and Prof Sarojini Nadar, the Desmond Tutu South African Research Chair in Religion and Social Justice at UWC. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC

The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Francesca Albanese, speaking at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) on Wednesday, said religious texts had been abused to dehumanise and justify the genocide of Palestinians.

She described a "theology of erasure" that stems from ignorance and preys on intellectual vulnerabilities and spiritual suffering. “In the name of religion, the lives of mothers, fathers and children are sacrificed,” said Albanese.

She participated in a vital discussion at UWC titled "Apartheid, Zionism, and the Socially Conscious University". During this event, she interacted with members of the University community, including Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Robert Balfour, and anti-apartheid activist, Alan Boesak.

Albanese noted that even in South Africa, a nation ostensibly enlightened and liberated from apartheid's constraints, a segment of the population persists in justifying Israel's actions against Palestinians on religious grounds.

Francesca Albanese Image: Shelley Christians/UWC

“But the Palestinians, with their religion, which religion? I mean, in the face of this, of two years of genocide, predicated upon this concept of Amalek. I'm hugely indebted to the great legal team that South Africa has put together, because these lawyers should be heard. They are phenomenal for all the things that they've studied and they have produced. And it shouldn't stay just with the South African government, because it's going to empower all of us, if we share and discuss it,” said Albanese.

The South African government had argued, in its case to the International Court of Justice, that the Israeli government, through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had invoked the biblical command to annihilate the Amalekites as a justification for genocidal intent following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. 

She highlighted the significance of the South African lawyers' findings in their case against the Israeli government, noting that each genocide employs specific keywords. She referenced the use of "Tall Trees" in the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda as an example. Albanese further stated that "Amalek" serves as a dog whistle widely used within Israeli society.

Reverend Wilma Jakobsen presents Francesca Albanese with the Archbishop’s Award for Peace and Justice from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC

“How have we been so blind? So unaware about what genocide is, because in the veins of a settler colonial regime, like in a set racist society, there is the dormant genocide. Sooner or later, that gene is activated, and there is a history, there are centuries of history, and a genocide that leads to that,” said Albanese. 

The abuse of religion, she said, should be viewed as irrational, but she reiterated that she did not view religion as irrational.  “The law should have been the only instrument and the only medium to regulate the relations between individuals  because the law itself operates in a system of privilege. This is the thing. Is it new? No. Because throughout centuries of colonialism, the law has been used to maintain structures of injustice and oppression”.

She said religiosity had, in recent times, been used as a dangerous wedge driver in Western countries, particularly in the United States.  “And I'm seeing this in my own country. Italy is the most striking of all in Europe, where, all of a sudden, politicians, who have been there for 20 years, go around with the cross on their forehead,” said Albanese.

She was a special guest of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and spoke on the last day of her visit to South Africa, which included several engagements in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Albanese had also received the Archbishop’s Award for Peace and Justice from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

On Saturday, after delivering the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Sandton, an attempt was made by the sheriff of the court, on the instruction of an American pro-Israel NGO, to serve court papers on Albanese, alleging defamation against supporters of Israel. That ultimately resulted in Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi issuing an apology to Albanese.

Watch the dialogue here:  https://www.youtube.com/live/3KR-umXQThI