This Monday, October 26 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Me Francesca Albanese, will present her most recent report, The truth beneath the rubble: the media in the time of genocide, during a plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly broadcast live.
In this investigative report, the UN Special Rapporteur examines “how the destruction of the truth has become part of the destruction” of the Palestinian people. His report focuses on three practices which “constitute an attack on the truth which is intrinsic to the genocidal violence which they aim to conceal”:
(1) The elimination of Palestinian media workers, through murder, mutilation, arbitrary detention, torture, intimidation and the systematic labeling of them as “terrorists” – with the aim of preventing the documentation of crimes; (2) The establishment of an information regime in Israel characterized by media restrictions, censorship, propaganda, hate speech, incitement to genocide and its denial; (3) The role played by influential international media and digital platforms in the reproduction of Israeli discourses, the sidelining of Palestinian voices, the dehumanization of Palestinians, the repression of legitimate criticism of Israel and the disregard for legal realities in order to conceal or legitimize actions akin to genocide.
The report concludes that, taken together, these three practices constitute “mediacide”, or “the destruction of the essential function of the media in the information environment relating to the occupied Palestinian territory”: “Genocide lies not only in the destruction of human beings, but also in the destruction of the political and moral conditions and evidence that make this destruction visible, understandable and capable of being challenged in court. »The report highlights the role of Western media and digital platforms – including the BBC, the New York Times, CNN, Meta, in Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” (see para. 2 and note 2).
HighlightsReport, »The truth beneath the rubble: the media in the time of genocide », July 21, 2026, Human Rights Council, 81st session, A/81/249Presentation by Me Francesca Albanese, during the 28th plenary session of the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly (on social, humanitarian and cultural issues), Monday October 26, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) live here: webtv.un.org/en
Quote “The coverage of the media in Quebec and Canada is no different from that of the major international media targeted by name by Me Albanese. His report should be an opportunity for a serious examination of conscience here. The terms “conflict”, “war”, “new incursions”, “new outbreaks of violence” used ad nauseam to describe the colonial violence perpetrated for decades by Israel against the Palestinian people mask reality (and what international law says about it). What must be repeatedly named are the crimes of occupation, colonization, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and now genocide committed by the Israeli colonial state. The media must openly denounce the ongoing annihilation of the Palestinian people and shed light on its history. » – Raymond Legault, spokesperson for the Quebec URGENCE Palestine Coalition.
About the CoalitionThe Quebec URGENCE Palestine Coalition was formed in February 2024 to make visible the indignation of Quebec civil society at the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and to support the Palestinian struggle against occupation, colonization and dispossession. It brings together 53 union, community and citizen groups across Quebec.