From the Liveblog of
Friday, February 13, 2026
UN rights office ‘worried’ over calls for Albanese to resign after she apparently called Israel a ‘common enemy’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleGENEVA, Switzerland — A UN human rights spokesperson says she was very worried about attacks on independent UN experts after European governments called for the resignation of Francesca Albanese, who is mandated to report on human rights violations in the Palestinian territories.
“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,” the UN human rights office spokesperson Marta Hurtado says at a Geneva press briefing.
This follows criticism from Germany and other states this week over Albanese, who, speaking via videoconference at a forum Saturday in Doha, Qatar, appeared to refer to Israel as a “common enemy” that enabled the “genocide” in Gaza.
She denies having made the remarks.
Humanity has a “common enemy” in Israel, Francesca Albanese tells Qatar's Al Jazeera forum pic.twitter.com/l1wXNiS7yP
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 8, 2026
The Times of Israel Community.