U.S., Israel Slam U.N. Official over Antisemitic Remarks

Israeli and American officials blasted a United Nations attorney who is leading an “neutral, third party” investigation into Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians after her long history of antisemitic comments was revealed in an explosive report on Wednesday

U.N. Human Rights Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has compared Jews to Nazis and charged that a powerful Jewish lobby was in control of the U.S., a Times of Israel report found.

Israel’s mission to the U.N. said antisemitism is a “persistent malice that has infected the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

“Comments made by U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese that surfaced today are yet another stain on the credibility of this body and yet another example of the impunity that exists today regarding antisemitism and antisemitic comments made by UN officials,” a statement by the mission said.

The mission went on to note that it has repeatedly highlighted antisemitism and anti-Israel bias within the global body, but they have largely been dismissed by UN officials.

“It is about time that the United Nations take concrete action in addressing systemic antisemitism within the United Nations Human Rights Council and its mechanisms. The lack of accountability and impunity for comments made by UN officials only works to legitimize antisemitism and endangers the Jewish people,” the statement concluded.

Ambassador Michèle Taylor, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, said she is “appalled by recently uncovered antisemitic remarks” made by Albanese.

“References to the ‘Jewish Lobby’ are an age-old trope; this is outrageous, inappropriate, corrosive, and degrades the value of the UN,” she added.

Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, said Albanese’s “blatant antisemitic rhetoric” was “unacceptable.”

As recently as last week, as reported in Breitbart News, U.N. Special Rapporteur to the Palestinians Francesca Albanese told an audience at a Hamas-organized event: “You have a right to resist Israel,” echoing comments made during a 50-day summer conflict with Gaza in 2014, in which she justified the rockets fired by Hamas at Israeli civilian populations as “resistance.”

She charged Israeli with “wilful killing” and said it was guilty of major crimes including genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to The Times of Israel.

She claimed this year that “dozens” of journalists have been killed by Israel in the past two decades – statistics refuted by the United Nations itself.