EXCLUSIVE — A United Nations watchdog group is asking on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take motion in opposition to an appointee of the worldwide physique whose second time period is about to start on Could 1.
In a letter to Rubio, U.N. Watch Govt Director Hillel Neuer argues that the U.S. authorities ought to sanction and deny entry and visas to Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Particular Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Moreover, he referred to as for Albanese to be stripped of diplomatic immunity.
Neuer describes Albanese in his letter as being “pro-Hamas” and says her reappointment was executed “illegally.”
UN Particular Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, provides a press convention on the UN Metropolis in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 5, 2025. (Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard by way of REUTERS )
UN OFFICIAL REAPPOINTED DESPITE ACCUSATIONS OF ANTISEMITISM
“Her purported reappointment this month was illegally carried out in violation of specific U.N. guidelines requiring investigation of her misconduct, rendering her time period renewal null and void,” Neuer wrote.
When talking with Fox Information Digital, Neuer pointed to the DOJ’s latest determination to permit lawsuits in opposition to the UNRWA (United Nations Reduction and Works Company for Palestine) as proof that Rubio has the power to behave in opposition to Albanese.
Neuer argued that the U.S. ought to act utilizing an analogous precept to the one utilized in circumstances in opposition to anti-Israel agitators, equivalent to Mahmoud Khalil. He additionally wrote that “Albanese’s abuse of a world platform to unfold hatred and legitimize terrorism calls for an unequivocal response.”
“Legally, it’s extremely clear to me — I was an lawyer in Manhattan for one of many main regulation corporations in the US — it is clear to be in any correct courtroom of regulation this sort of procedural malpractice fraud would end in her not being a U.N. appointee,” Neuer informed Fox Information Digital.
UN’s Particular Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, attends Maghreb-Mashreq Social Discussion board in Tunis, Tunisia on Could 11, 2024. (Mohamed Mdalla/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs)
When requested about U.N. Watch’s letter, Pascal Sim, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights Council, informed Fox Information Digital that, “Francesca Albanese, Particular Rapporteur on the state of affairs of human rights within the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 (a rustic mandate), was appointed by the Human Rights Council on 1 April 2022, which was the final day of the forty ninth session of the Human Rights Council. She took up her operate on 1 Could 2022. Subsequently, in keeping with the “not than six years” precept, she will be able to function Particular Rapporteur till 30 April 2028.”
Sim additionally asserted that “at no time has the Human Rights Council, in any formal or casual means, been referred to as to ‘reappoint’ or ‘renew’ any Particular Procedures mandate-holder. Every time the Human Rights Council nominates any Particular Procedures mandate-holder, it does so with the data that the mandate-holder might serve as much as six years on this operate.”
Particular Rapporteur on the state of affairs of human rights within the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, speaks throughout a press convention on the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 11, 2024. (REUTERS/Pierre Albouy)
Earlier this month, when the U.N. was set to think about Albanese’s reappointment, Home Overseas Affairs Committee (HFAC) Chair Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., urged the U.N. to not enable it to undergo.
Mast argued in a letter to U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) President Jürg Lauber that Albanese “unapologetically” used her function within the worldwide physique to “try and legitimize antisemitic tropes, whereas serving as a Hamas apologist.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Up to now, a number of nations, together with the U.S., have condemned Albanese for her remarks. Actually, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has compiled an inventory of antisemitic and anti-Israel statements made by Albanese all through the years.
In October 2024, whereas serving as a U.N. appointee, she shared a publish on X, calling it a “must-read for the ages.” Within the publish, journalist Chris Hedges asserted that the “Israel foyer has purchased and paid for Congress and the 2 ruling events,” making marketing campaign donations by Zionists “a formidable barrier to peace.”
Albanese additionally in contrast Israel’s warfare in Gaza to the Holocaust and, in August 2024, referred to as the Gaza Strip a “focus camp of the twenty first century.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Francesca Albanese and the State Division for touch upon this report however didn’t obtain a response in time for publication.
Source link