The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations demanded – on Wednesday – the resignation of UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who denounced “the eradication of Palestinians from their land through genocide.”
Danny Danon published on the X platform a call for the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories to resign immediately.
This call came after Albanese said before a committee in the United Nations General Assembly, “Developments in recent months reinforce my assessment that Israel is waging a genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.”
“Once again, the UN is rolling out the red carpet for one of the most anti-Semitic figures in modern history, giving her a platform to spread baseless propaganda and lies,” Danon wrote.
Addressing Albanese directly, he added, “Your presence in the United Nations is a disgrace and a betrayal of all moral standards. Resign immediately. Leave your credentials at the door and join your friends in Hamas and Hezbollah, where you belong.”
UN rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council, and do not speak on behalf of the UN.
Albanese also defended herself in a press conference on Wednesday, saying, “I really do not feel comfortable having further discussions about the attacks against me, because it is not about me, and I am not the story. The story is the fact that there are Palestinians who are at risk of being uprooted from their land.”
She described the United States as “supportive of what Israel is doing.”
“Albanese is not qualified for her position. The United Nations should not tolerate anti-Semitism from a UN official appointed to promote human rights,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield wrote on the X platform.
Justify the means
Earlier Wednesday, Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a statement that “according to Albanese’s hate-filled vision, the State of Israel has no historical reason for existence, nor the right to defend its people, and Israel is using the October 7 attack to rescue the hostages.” “Just an excuse.”
The Israeli mission accused Albanese of being “nothing but a political activist who regularly spreads anti-Semitism, protects and encourages terrorism and distorts the law.”
Albanese said in a report published on Tuesday that “the ongoing genocide in Gaza is undoubtedly the result of the exceptional situation and widespread impunity enjoyed by Israel.”
She added, “It appears that the genocide of the Palestinian people is a means to achieve the goal of complete expulsion or eradication of Palestinians from the land to which their identity is fundamentally linked and which Israel covets openly and in violation of the law.”
Albanese has long faced intense criticism, accusations of anti-Semitism, and demands for her expulsion from Israel due to her persistent accusations of genocide against the Jewish state.
She previously said that the attack launched by Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 was part of a systematic process by the state to forcibly displace and replace Palestinians.
The long-prickly relationship between Israel and the United Nations deteriorated after the war.