Foreign Secretary asked to join France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Czechia, who have said the UN Special Rapporteur should go.
The British government is being urged to follow the lead of countries including Italy, Germany and France in calling for the resignation of the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, after comments she made at an Al Jazeera forum last week which appeared to refer to Israel as “the common enemy of humanity”.
A cross-party letter signed by more than 40 Peers, including the government’s former Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption, Lord Walney, and the UK’s Special Envoy on Post-Holocaust Issues, Lord Pickles, called on Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to support a French demand at the UN Human Rights Council later this month for Francesca Albanese to stand down.
“Special Rapporteurs must uphold strict impartiality”, the Peer’s letter to the Foreign Secretary said.
“Ms Albanese’s record shows repeated breaches of these standards including Holocaust comparisons, describing Gaza as a concentration camp, promoting claims of disproportionate Jewish influence and calling for Israel’s removal from the UN.
“The United Kingdom has always defended the principles of impartiality and integrity in international institutions. Continued support for a mandate holder whose conduct raises credible concerns of bias risks weakening these principles at a critical moment.”
At a recent Al Jazeera summit held in Qatar, the autocratic regime which operates the international media channel, Albanese said that “instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed it, given it political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support. This is a challenge. The fact that most of the media in the Western world has been amplifying the pro-apartheid, genocidal narrative is a challenge.
“And at the same time, here also lays the opportunity. Because if international law has been stabbed in the heart, it’s also true that never before the global community has seen the challenges that we all face. We who do not control large amounts of financials, algorithms and weapons. We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy – and freedoms, the respect of fundamental freedoms, is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom.”
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Czechia and Austria have now all called on Albanese to resign from her position. Johan Wadepul, Germany’s foreign minister, said: “I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position.”
Jean Noel-Barrot, France’s Foreign Minister, said that Albanese’s Al Jazeera forum comments “target not the Israeli government, whose policies can be criticized, but Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable.”
Albanese has since claimed that she was saying that “the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it.” She has been supported in this by French national publications including France24 and Le Monde, both of whom have stated that claims she was referring to Israel as an “enemy of humanity” have been taken out of context.
Albanese has a long history of highly inflammatory remarks, including a 2014 statement in which she said, with regards to foreign policy on Israel, that “America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust.”
The Al Jazeera forum also featured Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi – the representative of the regime believed to have killed tens of thousands of Iranian civilians just weeks ago.
Adrian Cohen, senior vice president of the Board of Deputies, said: “We welcome the demands of the French and German Foreign Ministers for the resignation of Francesca Albanese, and call on the UK government to join them.
“Albanese’s comments have been branded as antisemitic by multiple governments over several years. She has shown nothing but disdain for her duty to impartiality, has undermined the credibility of the UN, and done nothing to advance the cause of peace.
“The UK government must not tolerate antisemitism under a UN banner, and should act now with its European partners to protect the integrity of the UN system.”
13/02/2026 by JEWISH NEWS
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario