Francesca Albanese said that the 10/7 victims were killed in reaction to ‘Israel’s oppression’ rather than because of their Jewish identity.
The U.S. government slammed a U.N. expert for her antisemitic comments on the October 7 massacre, echoing similar condemnations from France and Germany.
In a social-media post over the weekend, that expert, Francesca Albanese, an Italian academic who also serves as a U.N. special rapporteur, disputed French president Emmanuel Macron’s recent characterization of the Hamas attack as the “largest antisemitic massacre of our century.” She said that the victims were killed in reaction to “Israel’s oppression” rather than because of their Jewish identity.
That led to condemnations from France and Germany this weekend, and several U.S. officials condemned Albanese’s comments as antisemitic today.
Michèle Taylor, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, wrote in a statement posted to social media that Albanese “has a history of using antisemitic tropes.” She referred to a previous controversy in 2022 sparked by Albanese’s comments saying that America is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby.”
“Her most recent statements justifying, dismissing, & denying the antisemitic undertones of Hamas’ October 7 attack are unacceptable & antisemitic,” the post stated. “We expect more of independent UN experts and condemn all forms of antisemitism.”
Albanese’s mandate as special rapporteur for the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” is to report on Israeli human-rights abuses. Nate Evans, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., issued a statement that echoed Taylor’s. He told National Review that there has been only one vote on Albanese’s mandate, which the U.S. opposed.
Findings by U.N. independent experts do not represent the organization as a whole. The rapporteurs, who are unpaid, receive some operating support from the U.N., in addition to contributions from funds earmarked by countries and from universities and non-U.N. research organizations. In a 2022 report, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights disclosed that Albanese received in-kind support for research assistance from Columbia University, University of Western Ontario, and Galway University’s Irish Human Rights Center.
Earlier today, the Israeli government announced that Albanese would be barred from entering the country, citing her comments. “Preventing her from entering Israel might remind her of the real reason why Hamas slaughtered babies, women, and adults,” foreign minister Israel Katz and interior minister Moshe Arbel said in a statement.
The U.N. is structurally biased against Israel. The Human Rights Council is required to discuss Israel at each of its sessions, and the General Assembly passes over a dozen anti-Israel resolutions every year, far exceeding the number of measures targeting authoritarian regimes. Many U.N. officials have similarly taken blatantly anti-Israel stances.