“A moon will rise from my darkness.” This slightly adapted line comes from the English version of a poem by Mahmoud Darwish – one of the most important voices in modern Arabic literature. Born in 1941 in the Palestinian village of Al-Birwa, east of Acre, Darwish shared the experiences of flight, displacement, loss, and exile with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. He found words for their suffering, their grief, their life in exile, and their enduring connection to their homeland – words that resonated widely and offered strength.
   

“A moon will rise from the darkness”

by Karin Leukefeld

 “A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness” is also the title of the book1 under review, subtitled “Reports on Israel’s Genocide in Palestine”. The 178-page volume was published in English by Pluto Press in London in autumn 2025. The cover features “Children of Gaza Dream of Peace”, a painting by Malak Mattar, a Palestinian artist from Gaza who attended UNRWA schools as a child, where her mother taught. The book was released simultaneously in the UK and the US, with all proceeds going to UNRWA.
    The author, Francesca Albanese, serves as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The book brings together three reports she submitted to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly during the war in Gaza: “The Anatomy of a Genocide; Genocide as Colonial Extermination; and From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide”.
    These reports, along with an introduction by Albanese, are preceded by a foreword from the editors, Mandy Turner and Lex Takkenberg, as well as contributions from three of Albanese’s predecessors: Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand and Leiden, and former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) from 2001 to 2008, John Dugard, Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand and Leiden, who was UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) from 2001 to 2008, and Michael Lynk, who taught law at the Faculty of Law, Western University London from 1999 to 2022, Professor Emeritus (2023), who was UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) from 2016 to 2022.
    The volume concludes with a substantial appendix of notes and sources for each chapter, encouraging further research.
    At the beginning of the book, several pages present endorsements from prominent figures familiar with the region and the Palestinian cause, including Ilan Pappé, Prince Hassan bin Talal, Craig Mokhiber, Andrew Feinstein, Avi Shlaim, and Ramzy Baroud, among others. Two representative remarks are worth quoting:
    Raz Segal, associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in Galloway Township, New Jersey, writes:
    “A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness reflects Francesca Albanese fearless pursuit of truth, her struggle for accountability, and her belief in a different world that is, indeed, already rising.”
    Ghassan Abu-Sittah, Professor of Surgery at the American University of Beirut and Rector of the University of Glasgow, writes:
    “When I came out of Gaza at the end of November 2023, I discovered that Israel was only the tip of the genocidal iceberg. The rest was the enablement apparatus – a system of states, institutions, and individuals – which ensured the longevity of a genocidal project […]. This book dissects this apparatus, shedding light on its constitutive accomplices.”

Hitting a nerve

“Looks like I’ve hit a nerve.” That was Albanese’s response in July 2025 after Donald Trump announced that her name had been placed on a US sanctions list.2 The move followed a “confidential letter” she had sent earlier that year to several major corporations – including Alphabet Inc., Amazon, Caterpillar Inc., Chevron Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies.
    In the letter, Albanese informed them that they would be named in an upcoming UN report for allegedly contributing to serious human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank. The companies sought assistance from the White House as Reuters reported. The Trump administration subsequently imposed sanctions on Albanese for “writing threatening letters.”
    The slander, the hatred and the persecution directed at the UN Special Rapporteur is reminiscent of medieval witch hunts. That the comparison is not far-fetched is demonstrated by remarks made by the Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon at the UN General Assembly in October 2025. In her report “Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime”, Albanese had accused the international community of complicity for supporting and allowing Israel’s war against the Palestinians to take place. Danon accused her of “cursing Israel with lies and hatred”. He called her “a witch” describing her report as another page in her “spell book of ”.3 If she could, she would ensure that Israel’s crimes “would stop once and for all”, Albanese said.
    More recently, the foreign ministers of France and Germany – Jean-Noël Barrot and Johann Wadephul – have called for her resignation. They accused her of bias and misconduct, Wadephul stated that Albanese had already been “abusive” several times and that, following her “recent outbursts against Israel,” her position was “untenable.”
    Barrot alleged antisemitism and declared on behalf of the French government “France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticised, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable.”
    The controversy stemmed from a video clip of Albanese speaking at a conference in Doha, broadcast by Al Jazeera. According to a translation by Amnesty International (London), she criticised
    “The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support […] We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy, and freedoms, the respect of fundamental freedoms is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom.”4
    However, the ministers claimed she had referred to Israel itself as “common enemy” of humanity.
    Amnesty International has called on several European governments – Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, and Italy – to retract what it describes as false accusations and to investigate how misleading, selectively edited footage came to be circulated without proper verification. The broadcaster France 24 has also examined the case in its program Truth or Fake, concluding that the allegations against Albanese were unfounded.5
    I would recommend Francesca Albanese’s book to the ministers and their staff. In fact, given the positions they hold, they ought to have read all the reports by the UN Special Rapporteur. That is, in fact, their job, and they should, in fact, have ceased their support for Israel long ago if international law and the UN Charter still meant anything to them.
    Francesca Albanese has tirelessly drawn attention to precisely this point: governments, companies and individuals become an accessory if they do not oppose the extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the destruction of their livelihoods and their rights, and if they do not cease their own aid, financing, arms deliveries to and arms purchases from Israel. 
    The book “A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness” was completed in October 2025. At that time, the war of extermination against the Palestinians in Gaza had been raging for two years and had “accelerated with violence, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and the threat of annexation of what remains of historic Palestine,” according to the foreword by editors Mandy Turner and Lex Takkenberg. The line from the poem by Mahmoud Darwish is “a metaphor for hope and strength even in the darkest times.” The book is dedicated “to the past, present, and future struggles of the Palestinian people for freedom, justice, and dignity.” Until that day of freedom arrives, it will be “spoken out and resisted all attempts to mute voices for Palestine.”
    Francesca Albanese dedicates her brief introduction before the three detailed reports that form the core of the book to those who guided her during her training, leading her to where she is standing today. She thanks everyone who has supported her work since October 2023, especially her predecessors in office who confirmed her appointment. 
    Life in Gaza is “painful and apocalyptic,” she writes. However, in Greek, apocalypse also means “to uncover” and “to unveil.” In Gaza, what has long been hidden is now open; much is coming to light, demanding attention and action. Change is being prepared, and every change comes at a high price. Everyone is called upon to act in light of what is happening in Gaza – every individual, every society. “The arc of history will only tilt toward accountability if we refuse to look away,” Albanese says. And call a spade a spade. •

https://www.zeit-fragen.ch/en/archives/2026/no-7-7-april-2026/a-moon-will-rise-from-the-darkness-ein-mond-wird-aus-meiner-dunkelheit-aufsteigen

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