I came across this unpublished post (see below) from late October 2025 in my drafts, and on reading it again I found it still shocking. It described the horrors taking place in Gaza in late October under the so-called ceasefire, which had been declared on 3rd October, 2025. About the same time, hateful words were directed at the UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese during an assembly of the United Nations.
Since then, the ceasefire is still very fragile – attacks recently by Israel have lead to the deaths of more Palestinians including young children, and little progress has been made on the ground. Palestinians are surviving in terrible conditions, with limited shelter from the winter weather, and still not enough food and medical aid is being allowed into Gaza. Francesca Albanese has been further attacked through sanctions placed on her personal financial affairs and calls for her to be removed as a UN Special Rapporteur, all of which only proves how brave she has been to stand up and speak the truth.
‘29th October 2025’
‘More horrific news coming out of Gaza yesterday. Just as we had dared to hope the fragile ceasefire might last, more than one hundred Palestinians in Gaza, including forty young children, were bombed and killed overnight by Israeli fighter jets, as the families lay sleeping in tents and ruined homes. Israel claimed it was attacking terrorists. It seems unwilling to stop the destruction of Gaza and its people, instead constantly finding reasons to break the ceasefire.
Also this week, I saw the Israeli representative at the UN, Ambassador Danon describe the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese as a ‘witch’. This was in retaliation to her detailed analysis of Israel ‘s actions in Gaza, which she had concluded, amounted to genocide.
Historically, women who acted as advisers and healers within their own communities were called ‘witches’ by men in positions of power, who felt threatened by the abilities and influence of knowledgeable, gifted females. It is depressing to realise that, in the 21st century, although we may be enlightened enough to no longer believe in witches, misogyny is still widespread.’
Retromode 