US blasts UN for extending human rights envoy to Palestinian territories
The United States is rebuking a United Nations decision to extend Francesca Albanese’s tenure as the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories.
“The United States continues to strongly denounce Francesca Albanese’s tenure as the ‘UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967,’’” the U.S. mission to the U.N. wrote in a Tuesday statement.
“The Human Rights Council’s (HRC) support for Ms. Albanese offers yet another example of why President Trump ordered the United States to cease all participation in the HRC," it continued, referencing the U.N.'s Human Rights Council.
"Ms. Albanese’s actions also make clear the United Nations tolerates antisemitic hatred, bias against Israel, and the legitimization of terrorism,” the statement concluded.
Albanese, who has held the position since 2022, was reappointed to a three-year term on April 5. Her role includes investigating and publicly reporting on Israel's violations of international law, international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention, according to the U.N.
Opponents of Albanese have accused her of echoing Hamas talking points. Hamas, designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization, killed about 1,200 Israelis in an Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and Israel responded with a full-scale war, killing more than 40,000 people in Gaza.
Albanese has described Israeli military strikes as “sadistic” and accused Israel of ethnic cleansing.
“A week after Oct. 8, I warned of the danger of ethnic cleansing," she told The New Arab outlet.
"What we are seeing now is genocide used as a means to an end. It is the destruction of a people who refuse to leave," she added.
Bipartisan members of Congress have long opposed her views and rhetoric. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) co-led an effort condemning her views in a 2022 letter to the U.N.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) also led several members of the panel in protesting Albanese’s reappointment last month.
“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,” they wrote in a letter to the president of the Human Rights Council.
Despite objections, Albanese has continued to reinforce her views on a worldwide platform and plans to focus on the complicity of multinational companies driving the war in Gaza in an upcoming report, according to The New Arab.
“Gaza is a graveyard, first of Palestinians, then of international law. Not because the law itself is weak, but because states refuse to enforce it,” she told the outlet.
Albanese later added, "If Palestine were a crime scene, it would bear all our fingerprints. Even charities and universities are involved. Supply chains, demolition contractors, tech firms. All complicit."
The Hill has reached out to a U.N. spokesperson for comment.