CAM Calls for Removal of UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese After Referring to Israel as ‘Common Enemy of Humanity’
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has called for the immediate removal of Francesca Albanese from her position as UN special rapporteur after she referred to Israel as a “common enemy of humanity” during remarks at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha.
In a letter sent Monday to Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, president of the UN Human Rights Council, Shannon Seban, CAM’s director of European affairs, asked that Albanese’s mandate be reviewed and revoked, arguing that her statements violate the neutrality required of UN mandate holders.
Seban wrote that describing the world’s only Jewish state in such terms crosses a moral and historical line and damages the credibility of the Human Rights Council. She warned that rhetoric of this kind, delivered from within the UN system, fuels hostility toward Jewish communities worldwide and turns a human rights mandate into political activism.
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Albanese, whose official title is UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied Since 1967, has faced repeated criticism over past remarks. CAM cited statements dating back more than a decade, including a 2014 comment referencing a “Jewish Lobby,” a 2024 social media post comparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, and accusations that she minimized the antisemitic nature of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Last July, Albanese was placed under US sanctions for what the government described as a “relentless campaign of antisemitic smears and political warfare against Israel and the United States.”
In her 2024 report “Anatomy of a Genocide,” Seban wrote, Albanese accused Israel of a “long-standing colonial process of erasure” without, in CAM’s view, adequately addressing Hamas’s actions.
Seban argued that these positions have eroded confidence in Albanese’s ability to serve impartially through the remainder of her mandate, set to run until April 30, 2028. CAM urged the council to initiate a formal review and consider early termination of her role.
