The United Nations has opened an investigation into allegations that Francesca Albanese, the controversial UN monitor tasked with investigating “Israel’s violations,” illegally accepted funding from pro-Hamas groups to fund an estimated $20,000 trip to Australia and New Zealand, in which she lobbied a major pension fund to divest from Israel.
The investigations division of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services recently announced that it has opened a case into allegations of financial improprieties by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur asked with monitoring “Israel’s violations” in the Palestinian territories.
A former lawyer with UNRWA who co-founded a global network to lobby against Israel, Albanese recently became the first UN human rights rapporteur in the history of the United Nations to be condemned by France and Germany for antisemitism.
She was also censured in 2022 by the US Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, after it was revealed she had published a fundraising appeal for UNRWA claiming that “America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby.” In 2023, a bipartisan group of 18 lawmakers condemned her refusal to denounce terrorism against Israelis.
The new UN investigation, which OIOS said would be conducted by High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, was sparked by a complaint filed in June by United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization based in Geneva.
UN Watch Today Files Proceedings to Remove Francesca Albanese, Terminating Her Mandate
In wake of the investigation, UN Watch announced that today it has filed proceedings with the United Nations to remove Albanese.
In a draft resolution submitted to the President of the Human Rights Council (see text below), executive director Hillel Neuer called on the 47-nation body to terminate Albanese’s mandate on account of her financial improprieties, as well as her repeated statements inciting antisemitism and justifying Hamas terrorism.
Neuer wrote today to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support the resolution. “The US was one of several democracies that inexplicably failed to object when Albanese’s appointment was brought to the Council floor in 2022, despite our appeals, and so we trust that, after having condemned her repeatedly for inciting Hamas terrorism and antisemitism, the US will do the right thing and present the resolution to finally remove her.”
“Francesca Albanese abuses her UN position to incessantly spew antisemitism and Hamas propaganda, on social media, on TV, and in her reports. Every day that she remains in office casts a shadow upon the human rights council and the United Nations as a whole,” said Neuer.
