France calls on anti-Israel UN rights rapporteur Francesca Albanese to resign

France is calling for the resignation of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories over comments she made allegedly targeting Israel at a conference, the foreign minister says.

“France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms. Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Jean-Noel Barrot tells French lawmakers.

Speaking via videoconference at a forum Saturday in Doha, organized by the Al Jazeera network, the vehemently anti-Israel Albanese referred to a “common enemy” that enabled the “genocide” in Gaza.

“The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support,” she said. “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.”

Today, Albanese defended herself in an interview with TV channel France 24 recorded before Barrot’s statement, denouncing what she called “completely false accusations” and “manipulation” of her words.

“I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity,'” she said.

But Barrot says Albanese’s comments add “to a long list of scandalous positions,” accusing the Italian rights expert of “justifying” the October 7, 2023, attacks against Israel and “comparing Israel to the Third Reich.”

“She is a political activist who stirs up hate speech that does a disservice to the cause of the Palestinian people,” he says, responding to a question from Carole Yadan, a lawmaker from the presidential camp. Yadan was among 20 other deputies to warn Barrot in a letter yesterday that Albanese should be “stripped of any UN mandate with immediate effect” following her remarks.

France is a one of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members.