The European calls for her resignation, led by France, Germany, and Czechia, came after Albanese reiterated her steadfast opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and genocidal war in Gaza in a speech to the Al Jazeera Forum in the Qatari capital, which was attended by high-profile Arab, regional, and international figures.
Following her address, UN Watch, a pro-Israel advocacy group, circulated an edited video that sought to smear the UN rapporteur, omitting key portions of her speech.
The official X account of the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Office in Geneva said it “rejects the unjust attack on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese” and that a video of her remarks at the Al Jazeera Forum had been manipulated.
“We trust that she is carrying out her work professionally and legally in monitoring the violations committed by the occupying power, including the policy of genocide in Gaza, land theft, and settlement construction,” the statement added.
In the full, uncut video, Albanese states that humanity has a common enemy, the “system which has enabled the genocide in Palestine.” In the edited video, Albanese says, “Instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given it political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support,” before the video cuts to conclude: “We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy.”
She stressed on social media that her reference to a “common enemy of humanity” applied to “THE SYSTEM that enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that conceal it, and the weapons that make it possible.”
The UN rapporteur also responded to her critics on X, saying, "Three European governments accuse me — based on statements I never made — with a virulence and conviction that they have NEVER used against those who have slaughtered 20,000+ children in 858 days." She cited Palestinian Health Ministry figures showing more than 72,000 killed by Israel in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.
During he speech, Albanese, who has been outspoken in demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, reiterated her condemnation of Israel’s genocide and starvation policies against Gaza’s population—citing the International Court of Justice’s January 2024 ruling and the UN’s August 2025 famine declaration in the Strip—while also criticizing Western inaction to stop it.
She did not, however, describe Israel itself as a “common enemy.”
Albanese warns ‘genocide is not over’
Addressing the Al Jazeera Forum, Albanese said, “We have been spending the last two years looking at the planning and making of a genocide. And the genocide is not over. The genocide as the intentional destruction of a group as such is clearly unveiled now. It’s been in the air for a long time and now its in full display.”
She added, “Its been difficult to report the genocide. Al Jazeera knows better than anyone else in the media realm, because all of the losses it has suffered as a media company. But no other people knows it better than the Palestinians themselves.”
“The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given it political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support. This is a challenge.”
The UN rapporteur for Palestine reiterated her condemnation of the Western media's complicity in whitewashing the crimes of Israeli occupation in the occupied West Bank and crimes in Gaza in the last two years.
“The fact that most of the media in the Western world has been amplifying pro-apartheid, genocidal narrative is a challenge,” Albanese said.
Albanese, who authored a major report in July 2025 (From an Economy of Occupation to an Economy of Genocide) on the complicity of major Western corporations in funding the Israeli occupation and crimes, also reiterated the key message from the report.
"We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy,” she said.
“But we need to stand up, we need to do the right thing, all of us, in our individual sphere. Being as lawyers, journalists, educators, students, ordinary citizens at home.”
Albanese reports on Palestine
Albanese’s legal and academic work to document and expose the crimes of the Israeli occupation in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, in line with the UN Charter, has been a major source and reference point for many activists and academics around the world.
Her October 2025 report to the General Assembly, Gaza Genocide: a Collective Crime, asserted, “The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States”; it described Gaza as “strangled, starved, shattered” through a “global network of complicity,” urging states to cease aid enabling “direct participation, material aid, [and] diplomatic protection.”
In her July 2025 report to the Human Rights Council, From an Economy of Occupation to an Economy of Genocide, she detailed corporate complicity, stating, “From arms manufacturers to tech giants, banks, energy companies, online platforms, supermarkets, and universities, businesses have provided the tools, funding, infrastructure, and legitimacy for this erasure machine.”
In an April 2025 interview with Ahram Online, she called Gaza “the largest concentration camp of the 21st century,” stating, “Israel is clearly committing genocide against the Palestinians... one neighborhood at a time, one hospital at a time... using American and European weapons.”
In her October 2024 report to the General Assembly, Anatomy of a Genocide, she outlined the 10 acts of genocide under the Genocide Convention actively manifesting in Gaza, including killings, serious harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians; she stated, “Israel’s genocide on the Palestinians in Gaza has been telegraphed and is now well into its implementation phase,” warning of “irreversible destruction” if the international community fails to act.
Crusade against Albanese
The campaign against Albanese started in France after French MP Caroline Yadan, a pro-Israel lawyer combating antisemitism, urged French authorities to remove her from her UN mandate, citing her alleged statement that Israel was “a common enemy of humanity.”
Responding to Yadan’s call, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accused Albanese of "targeting Israel as a people and as a nation." Barrot condemned her criticism of the Israeli occupation as “outrageous and reprehensible” and announced he would call for her resignation at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session on 23 February.
A letter signed by 53 members of parliament, including former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, supported a French move against Albanese.
Joining the chorus, Petr Macinka, the Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, a country that has refused to join other EU countries in recognizing Palestinian statehood, also called for her resignation.
Johann Wadephul, the Foreign Minister of Germany, another European power that also refuses to recognize the State of Palestine, followed suit, labelling Albanese's position as "untenable."
Shortly after, Italy and Austria—two more opponents of Palestinian statehood—joined in condemning Albanese for allegedly calling Israel the "common enemy of humanity." Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said this week that her statements and conduct make calls for her resignation "inevitable," while Austria's Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said Albanese "spreads incitement" and undermines UN impartiality standards.
Albanese, whose six-year term began in May 2022 and runs through April 2028, is set to speak at the Human Rights Council in Geneva next month on Palestinian rights. There is no precedent for removing a special rapporteur mid-term, although diplomats say the 47-member council could theoretically propose a motion to do so. Given the strong support for Palestinian rights within the body, such a motion is unlikely to pass.
In the past two and a half years, her work on the occupation and the genocide in Gaza has earned her scorn and groundless accusations of antisemitism from Israel and some of its closest Western allies.
Since returning to office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump has routinely targeted supporters of the Palestinian cause, accusing them of antisemitism for opposing the Israeli genocide and occupation of Palestinian territories.
In July 2025, at the height of the Israeli genocide, Tel Aviv barred Albanese and Philippe Lazzarini (UNRWA Commissioner-General) from entering Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, citing their statements accusing Israel of genocide as antisemitic incitement.
Moreover, in February 2025, US officials imposed “terrorist-grade sanctions” on International Criminal Court (ICC) officials over arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, later extending to UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, freezing assets and disrupting investigations.
According to media reports, the sanctions against Albanese were prompted by requests from at least two US tech companies involved in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
These companies — including Alphabet, Amazon, Chevron, and Lockheed Martin — had been warned by the UN rapporteur that they were "contributing to gross violations of human rights" by Israel. Albanese reportedly wrote letters to companies accused of complicity in Israel's human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank, leading to the sanctions.
In announcing the sanctions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused her of "unabashed antisemitism" and "support for terrorism," stating her efforts represented "illegitimate and shameful" campaigns of "political and economic warfare" against the US and Israel. Albanese rejected these as a "lawless, vile act" and "shameful and defamatory" smears designed to silence her documentation of Gaza's genocide, asserting the US was acting as an "international outlaw."
Coming to her defence
On Monday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini issued a warning over coordinated campaigns targeting human rights experts, focusing on the attacks against Francesca Albanese — an independent expert mandated by the UNHRC to monitor the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“Over and over during the war in Gaza, we have seen how coordinated campaigns seek to discredit and silence those who speak out about human rights impacts and violations of international humanitarian law,” Lazzarini said.
“The latest attacks on Francesca Albanese aim at silencing her voice and undermining the few remaining independent human rights reporting mechanisms,” he added.
He also stressed, “How we act in the face of fake news and vicious disinformation campaigns is a sign of our moral compass.”
On Friday, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Marta Hurtado expressed concern about the growing personal attacks on independent experts, stating, “We are very worried. We are concerned that UN officials, independent experts, and judicial officials are increasingly subjected to personal attacks, threats, and misinformation that distracts from the serious human rights issues.”
Hurtado added that UN experts, such as Albanese, operate independently under mandates from the Human Rights Council and are not subject to organizational interference.
On Friday, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) voiced strong backing for Albanese on Friday, stating, “Albanese has been the subject of numerous illegitimate attempts to discredit her, due to her willingness to report on Israel’s violations of international law, without bowing to political pressure from foreign states.”
Her reports to the UN Human Rights Council have highlighted Israel's occupation as apartheid and its war on Gaza as genocide under international law, urging states to end complicity in these violations.
Last week, Albanese directly challenged the Western accusations against her on X, writing, “Regardless of your personal attacks and the contempt shown towards me, I invite you, Ms. Yadan, to produce a single quote in which I have described Israel as 'an enemy of humanity.'” She shared a four-minute clip of her speech, demonstrating that her comments were about the system enabling genocide, not Israel itself.
Gaza genocide—West Bank occupation
The Israeli genocide in Gaza has persisted despite a ceasefire agreement between Tel Aviv and Hamas—brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar—on October 10, 2025.
Since the ceasefire took effect, Israeli strikes have killed at least 600 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while military occupation—including buffer zones and no-go areas enforced at gunpoint—now covers nearly 60 percent of Gaza, trapping civilians and worsening starvation and the humanitarian crisis.
In the West Bank, Israel continues to take steps making a two-state solution more difficult by annexing greater parts of the territories on the ground, ignoring a landmark July 2024 advisory opinion declaring Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories unlawful, requiring its rapid end, settlement evacuation, and reparations to Palestinians.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli forces and state-backed settlers have killed over 1,100 Palestinians since October 2023—including at least 213 children (one in five victims)—through airstrikes on refugee camps, raids, and settler attacks enabled by arming thousands of settlers. These operations have displaced 30,000-40,000 Palestinians and destroyed parts of Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas, and Nablus camps.
In a statement on Friday, Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, which categorized the Israeli war on Gaza as a "live-streamed genocide" in December 2024, condemned the attacks from European ministers, saying, “It is reprehensible that ministers in Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, and Italy have attacked the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, based on a deliberately truncated video to misrepresent and gravely misconstrue her messages — as is clear from watching her original address in its entirety.”
Callamard also called for these officials to retract their calls for Albanese’s resignation, adding, “If only these ministers had been as loud and forceful in confronting a state committing genocide, unlawful occupation, and apartheid as they have in attacking a UN expert. Their cowardice and refusal to hold Israel accountable stand in stark contrast to the Special Rapporteur’s unwavering commitment to speaking truth to power.”
Days later, on Monday, Callamard posted on her X account questioning the origin of the manipulated video.
In tandem, hundreds of UN staffers, who are members of a group called United Staff for Gaza, hit back at the European governments targeting Albanese.
“United Staff for Gaza regrets the dis-/misinformation that has circulated in recent days concerning Special Rapporteur Albanese, which has been taken up by the French, German and other Foreign Ministers in their levelling of unwarranted, vitriolic accusations against the Special Rapporteur,” the group said in a statement on Friday.
“United Staff for Gaza appeals for a rectification of these errors and calls for an end to personal attacks, threats, intimidation, and disinformation targeting UN agencies, mandate-holders, and personnel.”
The following day, in a show of solidarity with the rapporteur of the occupied territories, over 100 cultural figures, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, and musician Annie Lennox, signed a letter on Saturday organized by Artists for Palestine. The letter expressed: "We offer our full support to Francesca Albanese, a defender of human rights and therefore also of the Palestinian people's right to exist."
In Albanese's defense, Amnesty International's Callamard said, “The calls for her to resign are the latest in a series of alarming personal attacks and attempts to silence her — and must be categorically rejected. This campaign to discredit her only serves as a smokescreen to deflect attention away from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, its system of apartheid, and unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
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