Republicans seek to block the reappointment of UN official accused of antisemitism

The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) is demanding that the United Nations not reappoint Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who chairs the committee, is leading the charge to oppose Albanese.

In a letter to U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) President Jürg Lauber, the committee accuses Albanese of failing to uphold the council’s code of conduct. They also condemn Albanese for comments she made about Israel in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

“Albanese unapologetically uses her position as a UN Special Rapporteur to purvey and attempt to legitimize antisemitic tropes, while serving as a Hamas apologist,” the committee wrote in its letter. “In her malicious fixation, she has even called for Israel to be removed from the United Nations while likening Israel to apartheid South Africa.”

UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 5, 2025. (Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS )

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The committee not only criticized Albanese but also slammed the UNHRC, saying its leaders “allowed antisemitism and anti-Americanism to thrive within, with a seeming unwillingness to hold the most egregious violators of human rights to account.”

“Francesca Albanese is an unabashed anti-Israel activist who has consistently done the bidding of Hamas terrorists responsible for the heinous October 7th attacks. Her appointment is a disgrace to the U.N. It’s time for the U.N. to claw back the integrity and accountability it has surrendered,” Mast told Fox News Digital.

U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer lauded the “much needed” action from Congress. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Neuer said that Albanese’s reappointment would be “unlawful” and called for “consequences” from the U.S. if she visits the country.

“Francesca Albanese openly supports Hamas, spreads antisemitic tropes, and tramples the U.N.’s own Code of Conduct. Under the U.N.’s own rules, the president of the Human Rights Council is now duty-bound to convey to the plenary this and other substantial objections that have been submitted, and for the delegates to formally consider Albanese’s many violations. And yet every indication is that the 47-member body — with the EU’s complicity — is instead barreling ahead with Albanese’s reappointment,” Neuer said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese looks on at a press conference during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, on March 27, 2024. ( FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Albanese, who was appointed special rapporteur in 2022, has been condemned by the governments of multiple countries and faced accusations of antisemitism. Her response to French President Emmanuel Macron calling the Oct. 7 attacks “the largest antisemitic massacre of our century” sparked backlash from France, the U.S. and Germany.

The U.S. slammed Albanese for her “history of using antisemitic tropes,” and said her comments were “justifying, dismissing [and] denying the antisemitic undertones of Hamas’ October 7 attack are unacceptable [and] antisemitic.”

UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese attends Maghreb-Mashreq Social Forum in Tunis, Tunisia on May 11, 2024.  (Mohamed Mdalla/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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The French Mission to the U.N. condemned Albanese’s response in a post on X. According to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) translation, the post read: “The October 7 massacre is the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. To deny it is wrong. To seem to justify it, by bringing in the name of the United Nations, is a shame.” This was just a few months after the mission condemned her “hate speech and antisemitism.”

Germany retweeted France’s statement and said, “To justify the horrific terror attacks of 7/10 & deny their antisemitic nature is appalling. Making such statements in a UN capacity is a disgrace and goes against everything the United Nations stands for.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.