‘Delusional’ UN executive mostly sides with Hamas

Click here to read exclusive interview: UN executive says Palestinians have license to kill

Critics of the United Nations special reporter for the Palestinians — and there are many — say that Francesca Albanese’s historically chronic fault-finding of Israel and repeated comments and actions deemed antisemitic make her unfit for the job.

An Italian lawyer, Albanese serves as what many supporters of Israel say is a microcosm of the UN’s hyperfocus on demonizing Israel at every turn, grounded in a disdain for the Jewish state and for Jews in general.

Albanese sat down for an extended interview with JNS (published on page 6), and several of her comments and positions struck a chord with those who closely watch the United Nations and its treatment of Israel.

Asked whether Hamas was justified in crossing the Israel-Gaza delineated border and killing Israeli soldiers on Oct. 7, Albanese told JNS: “Killing soldiers is not an international crime. I mean, why is this so unbelievable? You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist for the Palestinians? No one wants to live under oppression.”

David Litman, a senior analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a watchdog, told JNS that Hamas did not aim to kill soldiers.

“Its purpose was to brutally murder and kidnap every Jew it could get its hands on. The soldiers were just in the way,” he said. “That’s not ‘resistance.’ That’s an act of genocide.”

Albanese has “a history of whitewashing the murder of Israeli civilians,” according to Litman.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and a frequent critic of Albanese, was also taken aback by what she told JNS.

“When she says that thousands of terrorists crossing the border and killing soldiers in their beds is the right of resistance, that’s absurd,” Neuer said. “It’s a crime of aggression and absolutely a violation of international law. She has a perverted morality, whereby she thinks that killing Israelis is always justified.”

Albanese said in an interview with an Australian television station that Israel’s recourse for Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks included asking the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas or conduct a law enforcement investigation. JNS challenged that suggestion as both nonsensical and impractical and asked the UN official several times what recourse Israel had, in her view, for the Oct. 7 massacre.

“Israel has recourse. Israel occupies the Palestinian territory illegally, continuing to colonize the land, to brutalize the people, to let its armed settlers go around and terrorize everyone,” Albanese told JNS. “So excuse me, what did the Palestinians have to do?”

“I’m not justifying what Hamas has done,” she said. “I’m just asking what they are left with.”

Litman noted that if Israel “occupies” Gaza, the Jewish state would have an obligation under international law to disarm Hamas and restore law and order in the territory.

“Albanese’s fantasy version of international law naturally skips over that bit,” the CAMERA analyst said.

In the JNS interview, Albanese took issue with a question suggesting that Hamas remains in control of Gaza “in part because the United Nations is happy to do Hamas’ work of taking care of its people and creating a UN jobs bank in Gaza while Hamas builds up its military capabilities.”

Albanese claimed there is “no evidence” for the claim, citing her previous work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

“The United Nations does the utmost to ensure peace and stability in the region, despite what the Israeli government says,” she said. “This attack against the United Nations is absolutely disingenuous. It’s totally baseless.”

Litman called that a “standard delusional inversion” from Albanese.

“Consider that when a former UNRWA Gaza director made the mistake of admitting Israeli strikes were sophisticated and precise, he was driven out of his job — not because he was wrong, but because he did not tow the Hamas party line,” he said. 

“UNRWA is a fundamentally political organization that serves only to perpetuate the conflict,” Litman added.

Neuer cited a UN Watch report documenting UNRWA teachers, principals and other staff inciting jihadi terrorism, glorifying Hitler and calling for the murder of Jews.

Albanese was defiant in the interview with JNS about charges that she hates Jews.

“I will always speak in defense of any Jews, including those who feel very strongly about the State of Israel,” she claimed. “It’s their right. I don’t judge.”

Litman responded that Albanese is an antisemite “masquerading” as a human rights activist.

The UN official’s “invention and weaponization of imaginary standards in pursuit of her goal of destroying the Jewish state only serves to debase the very concept of human rights and to embolden terrorists and dictators,” he said.

“If Jews have to choose between preserving our right to self-defense, which Albanese would deny to us, and relying on someone who once claimed the ‘Jewish lobby’ has ‘subjugated’ the United States to speak in our defense, I’ll choose the former,” Litman added.