Jewish groups call for UN to fire special rapporteur Albanese

JNS Staff

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Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur, briefs reporters at UN Headquarters. Credit: Loey Felipe/U.N. Photo.

Jewish groups denounced Francesca Albanese after the special U.N. rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories appeared to compare Israel to the Nazis, as she has done often in the past.

“As we speak, write, tweet, sob: Israeli forces are committing another massacre in northern Gaza. People in Jabalyia are killed—both in groups and one by one—amid unspeakable cruelty and sadism,” the special adviser to the United Nations wrote. “By Israelis who have accepted to be ‘willing executioners’ of a genocidal plan. With Western-manufactured weapons and with Western support.”

“It blows my mind to think that we know what Israel is doing and altogether, we cannot stop it,” she added. “Looking at where we were 100 years ago, no [sic] much progress has been achieved.”

The United Nations considers special rapporteurs to be independent “experts.”

Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, chair and CEO respectively of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, called Albanese “one of the worst offenders in the entire apparatus” of the United Nations, which “has long demonstrated ceaseless, deeply ingrained bias against the state of Israel.”

“Albanese’s malign fixation on the Jewish state has of late escalated to comparing it to Nazi Germany, mocking the recent tragic deaths of four IDF soldiers and even demanding that Israel be stripped of its seat at the U.N.,” the two leaders stated. “This comes after she claimed that the Hamas pogrom was not an act of antisemitism, which drew the condemnation of several governments, including the United States.”

Schleifer and Daroff added that “Albanese’s rhetoric reflects a lack of basic decency and humanity and consistently violates her obligations under the charter and code of conduct of the U.N.” and call for her to “be immediately removed from her post if the U.N. is to salvage the modicum of its integrity that still remains.”

‘Accountability is needed now’

The World Jewish Congress stated that “the constant statements made by Francesca Albanese comparing Israel to Nazi Germany are not only deeply offensive but a gross distortion of history.”

“This blatant Holocaust inversion and antisemitism weaponizes the tragedy of the Jewish people to demonize Israel. Such speech by officials not only undermines the U.N.’s integrity but also violates the principles on which it was established—principles born from the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jewish people,” the WJC stated. “It’s imperative the U.N. ensures its platforms are not hijacked to spread hatred and fuel division. Accountability is needed now.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote that “at this point, no one is surprised to see U.N. special rapporteur Albanese expose her deep bias and blatantly use antisemitic tropes like comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.”

“But this is why ADL requested that the U.N. Human Rights Council open proceedings to remove her from office,” he wrote. “U.N. officials should check their biases at the door and maintain professional standards. This is as basic as it gets and yet Albanese falls far short.”

Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, managing director of the American Jewish Committee’s European offices, wrote that Albanese’s “comparison of Israel to the ‘Third Reich’ and talk of ‘pure race’ ideology is the embodiment of antisemitism, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.”

“She is a repeat offender in spreading such hate,” Rodan-Benzaquen added. “The fact that she is still in this role is a disgrace.”

“How much longer will we have to put up with her blatant antisemitism and anti-Israel biases?” the American Jewish Committee stated. “U.N. members must condemn this.”

It added that Albanese “continues to prove how unfit she is for her job.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, wrote that “comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is textbook antisemitism—plain and simple.”

Albanese “once again peddles antisemitic conspiracy theories and proves she is an unfit, partial representative,” CIJA stated. “We call on the Government of Canada to urgently condemn these hateful comments.”

The group cited a post, in which Albanese wrote that “because of their history, one might have thought Germans and Italians would be at the forefront of the opposition to the Netanyahu-driven assault on Gaza, which is now metastasizing across the region.”

“Our collective obliviousness to what led, 100 years ago, to the Third Reich’s expansionism and the genocide of people not in conformity with the ‘pure race’ is asinine,” she wrote. “It is leading to the commission of yet another genocide, yet another regional war and potentially yet another global one. Shame on all those who are making it happen.”

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Hillel Neuer @HillelNeuer

– No, @FranceskAlbs , it’s time to unseat YOU from the UN: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/fire-un-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese/

When your colleague Miloon Kothari committed the same breach of mandate, the Secretary-General was clear: “Israel is unquestionably a Member State of the United Nations, with the same rights and responsibilities as the other 192 countries that make up this organization.” https://x.com/UNWatch/status/1554490274767945734

You are violating your duty to act with impartiality. The Code of Conduct requires you to engage with governments in dialogue, an obligation mentioned in the Code seven times, in the Preamble and Articles 3, 11 and 13. Under no circumstances is a UN mandate holder entitled to call for the removal of a member state, which is the complete opposite of your duties and oblifgations.

We also note that you are selective—you have never called for the removal from the UN of the Islamic Regime in Iran, which is the one fueling Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in their war against Israel. On the contrary, you constitute a key asset for their axis, acting as their surrogate within the UN human rights system.

The United Nations was founded by the Allies who defeated Hitler. Its human rights declaration was created by Eleanor Rooselvelt and René Cassin, who were champions of Israel.

I agree with U.S. Ambassador @LindaT_G: Antisemites like you ought to have no place in this body.

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