The UN Human Rights Council just renewed the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, despite opposition from the United States, UN Watch and hundreds of thousands of petitioners, the Jerusalem Post reported.
By Rachel Avraham
The UN Human Rights Council just renewed the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, despite opposition from the United States, UN Watch and hundreds of thousands of petitioners, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to the report, UN Watch submitted a petition with 100,000 signatures against renewing Albanese’s tenure. Based on any analysis of Albanese record, the opposition to her reappointment is quite justified.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the United States mission to the UN sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stating that it opposes the renewal of Albanese’s role as UN special rapporteur due to her “virulent antisemitism, which demonizes Israel and supports Hamas,” the mission confirmed on X.
According to the report, Rep. Brian Mast (R–Florida, 21st District) – chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee – sent a letter to the president of the UN Human Rights Council expressing objection to Albanese’s term renewal, which would involve a second term of three years. The Jerusalem Post reported that Mast wrote that UN special rapporteurs have a duty to uphold the code of conduct as written in Council Resolution 5/2, which states that they must act in an independent and impartial capacity.
“Special Rapporteur Albanese has failed to uphold the code,” he wrote. “She has consistently aligned herself with Hamas terrorists, accused Israel of genocide, likened the Government of Israel to the “Third Reich,” and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. Ms. Albanese unapologetically uses her position as a UN special rapporteur to purvey and attempt to legitimize antisemitic tropes while serving as a Hamas apologist.”
The American Jewish Committee also opposed the renewal of Albanese’s role as UN special rapporteur: “The continued appointment of Ms. Albanese sends a deeply troubling signal to Jewish communities worldwide, to the victims of antisemitic violence, and to all states and civil society actors who believe in a multilateralism rooted in integrity and universality.”
The Anti-Defamation League added, “The ADL has documented numerous instances where Ms. Albanese has made inflammatory and antisemitic statements, undermining the principles of impartiality and integrity required of her role as set out by UNHRC resolution 5/2.”
In 2024, UN Watch prepared a 59-page document titled “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Why Democracies Should Sanction UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese For Propagating Antisemitism and Supporting Terrorism.” Anyone who reads this report will be simply shocked that the mandate of Albanese was just renewed, as it is a strong indictment against her holding any kind of public office, especially one of international significance.
Long before Albanese was appointed to public office, she held antisemitic views and is married to a man who formerly worked for the Palestinian Authority. Prior to being UN Special Rapporteur, she stated: “America is subjugated by the Jewish Lobby.” This is what Albanese posted on Facebook in an UNRWA fundraising appeal that she addressed to Monsignor Antonio Blundo, the head of her diocese in Italy, on July 31, 2014. It is only one of many examples of antisemitic statements she made prior to holding public office. After she was appointed, Albanese did not alter her views, as she saw that she so far has not been penalized for holding such views.
Albanese defended the Hamas October 7th invasion of Israel, arguing that “Killing soldiers is not an international crime. I mean, why is this so unbelievable? You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist for the Palestinians? No one wants to live under oppression.” A few days after the October 7th massacre, with resulting in the slaughter, rape, burning and mutilation of 1,200 innocent Israeli men, women and children and the abduction of over 250 others to Gaza, Albanese claimed that “Hamas’ crimes including rape” had not been confirmed, and that divulging information about the perpetration of rape by Hamas risked “to escalate tensions and endanger lives in a volatile context.”
According to UN Watch, “In November 2022, Albanese told a Hamas conference: “You have a right to resist.” Since the October 7th massacre, Albanese has systematically whitewashed Hamas’s atrocities. She became the first UN human rights rapporteur in history to be condemned for antisemitism by the United States, France, and Germany. In February 2024, Ms. Albanese was condemned by both France and Germany for antisemitism when she denied that the October 7 Hamas massacre was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, instead justifying it as a “reaction to Israel’s oppression.””
UN Watch stressed in the report, “France labeled her remarks “scandalous” and “a disgrace,” while Germany described them as “appalling” and “a disgrace.” Both denounced her justification of the terror attacks and her denial of their antisemitic nature. Albanese’s antisemitism has also been condemned by Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism” under former US President Joe Biden.
According to the report, Albanese is not just guilty of holding antisemitic views: “In addition to Albanese’s disgraceful racism, antisemitism and support for terrorism, the Investigations Division of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services announced on June 26 that it had opened a case (0808/24) into allegations of financial improprieties by Albanese. The allegations pertain to Ms. Albanese’s use of research interns to illegally collect payments for her UN activities, as well as to the claim by pro-Hamas groups in Australia that they “sponsored” her estimated $20,000 visit in November 2023. The case has been referred to the High Commissioner for Human Rights for “appropriate action.””
According to UN Watch, “Under the auspices of her employment at the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD)—a paid job to lobby against Israel that places her in an undeclared conflict of interest—Francesca Albanese founded and has been running a global influence network of more than 100 individuals and NGOs to target Israel by orchestrating lawfare campaigns, whitewashing Hamas terrorism, and cynically manipulating governments into funding UNRWA.”
They added: “Albanese’s network specifically advocated using overtly racist messaging about the threat of Arab “illegal migration” overwhelming Europe, and “association tensions,” as talking points to be made by network members “particularly to officials from right-wing, anti-immigration governments,” to scare them that failure to fund UNRWA (despite its terror ties) would mean “millions of Palestinians are forced to flee the Middle East.”” UN Watch also documented how Albanese has been working with former PA and UNRWA officials in order to fight against Israel as part of her global advocacy network, thus representing a clear conflict of interest with her present role as UN Special Rapporteur.
These are only a few of the many examples cited in UN Watch’s 59 page report. Nevertheless, despite all of the damning points made in the UN Watch report, the Times of Israel reported that she will serve as UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories until April 30, 2028. The UN’s coordination committee for special procedures dismissed complaints against Albanese late last month, the Times of Israel stressed.
“The renewal of Francesca Albanese’s mandate is a disgrace and a moral stain on the United Nations,” said Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. “Albanese is a notorious antisemite who has repeatedly expressed not only biased views against Israel, but also hateful rhetoric targeting the Jewish people as a whole.”
Anne Bayefsky, the director of New York’s Touro Institute on Human Rights and the president of the Human Rights Voices advocacy group, called on the US to cease funding to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Times of Israel added. “Today, the UN Human Rights Council exposed the dark side of its anti-Israel and anti-Jewish operation for the world to see,” she said. “The 47 members could have removed her — consistent with the UN’s declared principles and rules — and yet not one state made a peep, including EU states like Germany.”
Photo from Esquerda.net: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Albanese#/media/File:Encontro_com_relatora_especial_da_ONU,_Francesca_Albanese_-_Out.24_(54303679102)_(cropped).jpg
