‘National Security Threat’: Watchdog Group Calls for U.S. to Ban Pro-Hamas U.N. Palestinian Official
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The independent watchdog group U.N. Watch issued a scathing report Tuesday on the antisemitic history, record of support for terrorist organizations, and potential financial impropriety of Francesca Albanese, the United Nations “special rapporteur” for human rights in Palestinian territories.
Breitbart News obtained a copy of the full report, totaling nearly 60 pages, on Tuesday.
Albanese is reportedly traveling to the United States this weekend to address several college campuses and hold meetings at the United Nations headquarters in New York. U.N. Watch urged American officials to “bar Francesca Albanese from entering the United States on account of her propagation of antisemitism and support for Hamas terrorism, which amounts to a national security threat.”
Albanese has since 2022 formally held the position of “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” The position answers to the U.N. Human Rights Council, dominated by authoritarian regimes and serial human rights abusers, and is focused on condemning Israel and its self-defense activities against various jihadist terrorist organizations regularly threatening it.
While Albanese has a long record of antisemitism, including proclaiming that America is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby” in 2014, she has become significantly more vocal in condemning Israel since the jihadist organization Hamas invaded the country and massacred an estimated 1,200 innocents on October 7, 2023. The terrorist siege featured widespread acts of gang-rape, the killing of children as young as infants, mass abductions of dozens of people, and terrorists filming themselves desecrating the corpses of their victims and uploading the footage to the victims’ social media profiles.
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On the day of the massacre itself, Albanese declared the slaughter “must be put in context” and equated the existence of Israel to the terrorist act itself. Albanese also extended sympathies to the “Palestinian families” allegedly affected by the Hamas attack.
Albanese separately condemned French President Emmanuel Macron in February for describing the October 7 atrocities, accurately, as “the greatest antisemitic massacre of our century.”
“No,” she replied. “The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in reaction to Israel’s oppression.”
U.N. Watch compiled these statements alongside 60 pages of evidence of antisemitism, support for terrorism, conflicts of interest, and financial improprieties, noting that it is far from the only entity to vocally condemn Albanese. In addition to sharing her own condemnations of Israel, Albanese also regularly spreads misinformation and anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda.
It also noted that, separate from her operations within the U.N., Albanese appears to help lead a global pressure network to browbeat countries into funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian territories, whose members celebrated and participated in the October 7 attacks. Members of the U.S. Congress have repeatedly condemned her advocacy for terrorism and heard testimonies on her extensive anti-Israel and antisemitic history.
“Francesca Albanese has routinely spread antisemitism and openly supported Hamas terrorism,” the U.N. Watch report observed. “She became the first UN human rights rapporteur in history to be condemned for antisemitism by the United States, France, and Germany.”
Far from merely opposing Israel, however, Albanese has vocalized support for radical Islamic terrorism. In November 2022, for example, Albanese spoke at a conference officially hosted by the terrorists of Hamas.
“You have a right to resist,” she told the terrorists.
In its report this week, UN Watch noted, “Albanese participated in the Hamas conference together with Ghazi Hamad, former Hamas Deputy Foreign Minister; Abd al-Latif al-Qanu, Hamas spokesperson; Ahmad al-Mudallal, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader; Khadr Habib, PIJ leader in Gaza; as well as Basem Naim and Isam al-Da’alis from Hamas.” Hamas terrorists, the group added, have openly expressed “appreciation” to Albanese for her support of their cause.
Albanese explicitly defended terrorist violence on another occasion that year, quoted in Italian media as saying, “Israel says ‘resistance equals terrorism’ but an occupation requires violence and generates violence. The Palestinians have no other room for dissent than violence.”
U.N. Watch noted that Albanese improperly claimed not to have any conflicts of interest when taking on the “special rapporteur” job, omitting that her husband once worked for the Palestinian Authority, and is also under investigation for allegedly taking inappropriate payments for appearances as part of her job with the United Nations.
The U.N. opened an investigation into reports that Albanese’s bizarre trip to Australia to advocate against Israel in 2023 may have been sponsored by a radical anti-Israel group. Emails surfaced suggesting that Albanese was urging groups to redirect improper speaking fees to her assistant, a potential violation of her job.
Despite this record, Georgetown and Princeton Universities are expected to host Albanese next week. U.N. Watch described the situation as an opportunity for Albanese to continue “inciting jihadi terrorism and antisemitism on campuses” in America, where Jewish students have denounced an increasingly hostile environment following the radical leftist pro-Hamas outbursts that followed the October 7 attacks.
“If the U.S. does not wish to bar her from speaking at the UN on October 30, 2024, then at a minimum it should impose a strict geographic restriction on Albanese,” the organization suggested, limiting her to the United Nations.
U.N. Watch also urged United Nations member states to expel Albanese from her position, noting that several member states have already condemned her performance in the role.
“It is clear she is not fit for this or any position at the UN,” America’s Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield declared. “There is no place for antisemitism from UN-affiliated officials tasked with promoting human rights.”
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