Delegates from United Nations member countries convened in Geneva on Thursday to review the latest report presented by Francesca Albanese, the contentious U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This meeting took place merely two days following the U.S. Mission to the U.N.’s demand for Albanese’s dismissal, accusing her of a “persistent pattern of antisemitism and anti-Israel prejudice.”
Albanese’s report, titled “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide,” characterizes Israel as “a settler-colonial apartheid regime.” Furthermore, she alleges that corporations have supported Israel in “its continuous genocidal actions in Gaza.”
Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2025. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)
Previously, France and Germany have also condemned Albanese for her remarks regarding Israel, with some being labeled as antisemitic.
In February 2024, Albanese was condemned by France and Germany after saying French President Emmanuel Macron was wrong to call Hamas’ Oct. 7 events “the largest antisemitic massacre of our century.” In her response, she said “The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism but in response to Israel’s oppression.”
France said Albanese seemed to “justify” the attacks and that her remarks were “all the more scandalous given that the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the U.N,” according to the ADL.
