Francesca Albanese - the face of the UN

 On May 1, 2022, the position of UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories was assumed by Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese. The title itself carries a prejudice, if not a lie – there are no Palestinian territories that anyone, including Israel, could occupy. While historically one could speak of Jordanian or Egyptian territories under Israeli occupation (more or less like the Western Territories under Polish occupation, as they fell under Israeli rule as a result of wars initiated by those countries, but at least there are arguments), what about the Palestinian territories? But that's not the subject of today's post.

A position is a position. Let's take a look at the person who represents what some still consider a reasonable, international body, the UN.

 

The appointment itself was intriguing, smacking of nepotism. Ms. Albanese, who has had a long professional relationship with UN agencies, was appointed by a UNHCR advisory group in March and received a mandate on May 1, 2022, which was never voted on. 

 

She has never been neutral (one of the requirements for this role) and has repeatedly expressed her pro-Palestinian sympathies over the years, with particular emphasis on the most radical currents among Palestinians. Moreover, she had a long history of working at UNRWA, which I wrote about earlier.

 

Nevertheless, although no one probably expected neutrality and impartiality (theoretically required for her position), no one probably expected such unbridled spread of extreme forms of antisemitism.

After her recent appearances, when she spoke on the same press panel in Qatar as Hamas leaders and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, and when, during her speech, she described Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide" and called Israel "the common enemy of humanity," France and Germany demanded her resignation. The UN is defending its neutral, impartial, and diplomatic envoy. Aren't those very balanced words?

 

 Ms. Albanese, like all propagandists and politicians caught making particularly nasty statements that were meant for a specific audience but somehow slipped out, is excused by "taking the words out of context." The context standing next to her—a representative of the Iranian government, currently committing a crime against humanity against its own citizens, and representatives of a terrorist organization that has repeatedly committed crimes against humanity (including Khaled Meshal)—clearly ignores this.

 

Let's take a look at some of this lady's other statements, as they make for interesting reading:

 

1.  Just 10 days before her last, scandalous speech, in which she declared Israel the "common enemy of humanity" (I don't know what humanity thinks about this, but as a part of it, I recommend Ms. Albanese to change her medication and see a psychiatrist quickly, even though it may be too late), she stated that "Hamas should not be perceived as 'murderers, people armed to the teeth, or fighters'" and that it was a political force that won the 2005 elections. I wrote about those elections here, and Ms. Albanese is probably still crying for the murdered, yet beautifully elected Mussolini (for whom else, I'm afraid to ask).

 

2.  In an open letter posted on Facebook in 2014, Albanese (a senior UN official) claimed that "the Jewish lobby has enslaved America"—and therefore "condemns the oppressed" Gazans, not Israel. She also criticized the BBC's coverage of the fighting, accusing the British broadcaster of "clearly the Israel lobby is in your veins and system." The BBC was already pro-Palestinian at the time, but apparently, that wasn't enough for the UN official.

 

3. In 2015, she juxtaposed two photos: a Nazi German soldier with a dog on a leash over a fallen man, and an Israeli soldier, also with a dog and also over a fallen man. She deemed it appropriate to compare the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians from Israel in 1948, with the Holocaust. Of course, she didn't hesitate to mention the start of the 1948 war by Arab states, the program to drive Jews into the sea, or the 900,000 Jewish refugees from that war who were expelled from their homes in Arab countries.

 

4. And she rightly concluded that she had done nothing wrong, because after this statement, she was promoted to UN Special Rapporteur, heading the commission of inquiry into Israel's conduct towards the Palestinians. Upon accepting the position, she declared that she "does not hold views or opinions that could prejudge the matters" under investigation. Well, let's move on.

 

5.  Following the 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, Ms Albanese shared information from an Iranian state-owned newspaper that "the Mossad and the CIA were behind the attack on Charlie Hebdo."

 

6. In 2022, it proclaimed Hamas's right to exist and operate, despite the fact that in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and, of course, Israel, it has been recognized as a terrorist organization for years (the UN did not agree with this, they like Hamas, and twice the motions to condemn it were voted down).

 

7. In November 2022, addressing a group of… terrorists, she shamelessly claimed they had the right to “resist the occupation.” Regardless of whether it was an occupation, Ms. Albanese apparently believes that the people of Western Sahara have the right to murder Moroccans, Cypriots have the right to murder Turks, residents of (still formally occupied) Germany have the right to murder Americans, French, British (or Russians, it’s unclear), Georgians and Moldovans have the right to murder Russians, and Kashmiris have the right to murder anyone, just in case. It would be interesting to ask her about this.

 

8. After the October 7th massacre, Ms. Albanese dismissively said that "this crime must be put into context," clearly agreeing with the UN Secretary-General (the General Secretary is eager to hear this), who said the same thing. Instead (still in 2023), she expressed grave concern for the safety of Palestinians, calling for an immediate ceasefire. After all, in her opinion, only one side has the right to kill, and only one has the duty to die. Isn't that the very essence of a Special Rapporteur's impartiality?

 

9.  Albanese denied that October 7 was the worst anti-Semitic attack since World War II (if the facts do not match the views and propaganda, so much the worse for the facts). She still denies any sexual atrocities and crimes committed by Hamas.

 

10.  In 2024, Albanese compared Israel to the Third Reich three times.

 

In addition, she denied Hamas's crimes, spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories reminiscent of the Black Hundreds, and even associated the Los Angeles fire with Israel. If you have the time, energy, and desire for more of this literature, a list of some of her statements (in English) is available here.

 

When France and Germany (why only now?) demand her step down from a highly lucrative position she was never voted into, she's talking about taking words out of context. I'm not entirely sure which words, but I do know that even by the pathetically low standards of the UN, which has glorified more than one terrorist, this woman is exceptional. She's not the only one. Fifty years ago, after the Munich massacre, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (in an October 1972 article) similarly shamelessly defended the Black September terrorists, arguing that terrorism was the only weapon available to the "poor and oppressed" and that the attack demonstrated the need to solve the so-called Palestinian problem. This line of reasoning is strikingly similar to UN chief António Guterres's recent statement that the Hamas attacks "did not occur in a vacuum."

 

 Ladies and Gentlemen, with no views or opinions that could prejudge the Palestinian issue, the highly paid, impartial, elite, educated and neutral Francesca Albanese: