Francesa Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, speaks at a conference, “A Cartography of Genocide: Israel’s Conduct in Gaza,” at the Roma Tre University, in Rome, Italy, Oct. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli

The woman who has an official mandate from the United Nations to advise the international body on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appeared to describe Israel as synonymous with tyranny on Sunday, a statement likely to fuel ongoing concerns that she has a bias against the Jewish state.

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, came to the defense of a group of anti-Israel activists facing arrests after returning to Spain and disembarking their plane in Bilbao.

“Shame on the Basque police for brutalizing Flotilla members returning home after being abducted, unlawfully detained, and ill-treated by Israel,” she posted on X, sharing video of law enforcement arresting the activists. “May those responsible be held accountable. We must resist the Israelisation of our societies.”

Albanese shared a post from Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian anti-Israel activist who write: “OUTRAGEOUS! In front of their families and the entire Basque press, our Flotilla volunteers were attacked by the airport police in Bilbao, Basque Country-Spain, upon returning to their home country.”

Shame on the Basque police @ertzaintzaEJGV for brutalising Flotilla members returning home after being abducted, unlawfully detained and ill-treated by Israel. May those responsible be held accountable.

We must resist the Israelisation of our societies. https://t.co/HzaOANaMLf

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 24, 2026

The activists had returned following their detention in Israel after a failed attempt by a flotilla to break the naval blockade of Gaza which prevents the smuggling of arms to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas by sea.

Israel said last week that the flotilla had “come to an end” after more than dozens of vessels were intercepted and hundreds of activists were transferred to Israel to meet consular representatives before deportation. The Foreign Ministry described the flotilla as “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas” and said Israel would not allow a breach of what it called the lawful naval blockade on Gaza.

Flotilla organizers accused Israeli forces of firing during several interceptions, while Israel said only non-lethal warning measures were used and no live ammunition was fired at activists.

“The Gaza blockade is extraordinarily criminal: a form of collective punishment, it is a war crime in itself, and the enclosure behind which genocide has unfolded,” Albanese posted on Monday. “Cooperating with Israel under these conditions may entail complicity. All this must end and be accounted for.”

Albanese has an extensive history of using her role to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’s attacks against the Jewish state. In many cases, her rhetoric and political positions have led critics, including senior US officials, to accuse her of antisemitism.

Earlier this month, the UN adviser urged Germany to move beyond its historical guilt of the Holocaust while attacking Jews as arrogant.

“They [Jews] learned that to survive in this world they must be superior. No longer a fragile minority. No longer a people in exile. No longer the people of the book. But the chosen people. ‘Chosen to rule?’ One might wonder when looking at what Israel has become,” she posted on Facebook.

Albanese, who has held her position since 2022, has faced consistent criticism over a pattern of incendiary anti-Israel remarks, with officials accusing her of inciting violence and hatred.

Earlier this year, top diplomats from Austria, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and France called for Albanese’s resignation after she delivered a tirade against Israel.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot labeled Albanese “a political activist who stirs up hate.” He said she aimed her series of statements not at “the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani described Albanese’s language and proposals as “not appropriate for the position she holds within an organization dedicated to peace and security.”

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called Albanese “untenable in her position.”

Albanese has previously referred to a “Jewish lobby” controlling the US and Europe, compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and stated that Hamas’s violence against Israelis — including rape, murder, and kidnapping — needs to be “put in context.”

Despite significant pressure and opposition, her UN mandate was confirmed to extend until 2028.

On Sunday, an estimated 2,000 protesters emerged in Bilbao to protest the arrests of the anti-Israel activists. The demonstrations turned violent, with police deploying their batons and pinning people to the ground. The Basque regional police force announced it would investigate to make sure that officers acted in accordance with proper procedures.

Following their release from Israeli detention, on Friday the flotilla activists leveled lurid charges of abuse and rape.

They claimed that they suffered “humiliating strip searches, sexual taunting, groping and pulling of genitals, and multiple accounts of rape.” Going into further detail, the activists claimed they documented at least 12 sexual assaults on one vehicle which included “anal rape and forcible penetration by a handgun.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s prison service said in a statement that “the allegations raised are false and entirely without factual basis.”

Anti-Israel activist flotillas have previously faced allegations of sexual abuse themselves. In April, an internal document from the Global Sumud Flotilla revealed that a senior organizer on its steering committee labeled “BL” had engaged in sexual misconduct with three people while on the boat.

A statement from Heart of Falastin admin team called the behavior “an abuse of power, creat[ing] a toxic environment [that] compromises the integrity of the entire mission.”

On Wednesday, Albanese advocated for the detained activists, writing that the flotilla “is desperately trying to draw your attention to the plight of the Palestinians. Torture, rape, broken bones, beating to death, inflicted on men women children. Their unbearable suffering is the consequence of (your?) complicity with Apartheid Israel.”

Albanese also posted Wednesday in Italian that “flotilla activists seized, arbitrarily detained, and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by the Israeli apartheid authorities. Thanks to the Flotilla delegates for the immense sacrifice. May Israel and the EU alike be ashamed.”

Earlier this month, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez awarded Albanese the Order of Civil Merit, a prestigious knighthood, calling her “a voice that upholds the conscience of the world” and proclaiming that “public responsibility also entails the moral obligation not to look the other way.”

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz responded to Sánchez’s decision by excoriating Albanese.

“Any award to Francesca Albanese only shames those who bestow it,” Waltz wrote on X. “She has rightly been condemned by the US and numerous European countries for her vile antisemitism, illegitimate lawfare, and attempts to undermine the peace efforts in Gaza supported by many Muslim countries.”