Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

i24 News – The United Nations Human Rights Council has renewed the mandate of Francesca Albanese as Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, extending her hugely controversial tenure by three more years, in spite of fierce opposition from Israel and the US over her vast track record of biased and bigoted statements. Albanese, who has held the position since 2022, was reappointed with the automatic support of the 47-member council.

“The renewal of Francesca Albanese’s mandate is a disgrace and a moral stain on the United Nations,” said Danny Danon, Israel’s UN envoy. “Albanese is a notorious antisemite who has repeatedly expressed not only biased views against Israel, but also hateful rhetoric targeting the Jewish people as a whole.”

The Italian lawyer and academic’s numerous objectionable statements included rehashing the antisemitic conspiracy theory that the US is “controlled” by the “Jewish lobby,” obsessively comparing Israel to Nazi Germany—including saying that “the trajectory of the genocide as I say, this has been the dormant gene of the colonial project that Israel has enforced in Palestine”—, insinuating that Israel and the CIA were behind the deadly 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, denying the antisemitic nature of the extremist ideology espoused by Hamas and more.