UN Palestine Rapporteur says she won't resign despite French backlash

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, insisted on Euronews’ flagship Europe Today morning show on Friday that she will not step down from her position following what she described as “ludicrous” accusations from the French foreign minister.

Germany, France and the Czech Republic have been leading calls for Albanese to step down since last week over an alleged anti-semitic comment about Israel she denies making, blaming misinformation efforts.

Albanese told Euronews the accusations against her are “ludicrous” and are meant to provide “a distraction” from reports she made in which she condemned dozens of countries, including France, for their support to Israel.

“Let’s not make it about me, let’s talk about the seven damning reports where I documented 62 states, among whom France, who have provided political, strategic and military support to Israel,” Albanese told Euronews. “This is what France and other governments need to respond to.”

“The fact that there’s more scrutiny over something I didn’t say than over the practices of a state accused of crimes against humanity and genocide is telling,” Albanese also said, adding: “Impunity kills.”

She told Euronews that she will not resign as she retains “the trust of the [UN] Human Rights Council”.

The controversy began after a group of French MPs sent a letter to Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot accusing Albanese of describing Israel as “an enemy of humanity” during a forum organised by Al Jazeera.

One of the MPs involved, Caroline Yadan, cited two video clips from the forum to support the claim.

One of those videos has since proven to be fake. A comparison between the edited clip and the full recording of Albanese’s speech indicates that the extract was manipulated using artificial intelligence.

A different video footage shows Albanese saying financial and political support to Israel, algorithms amplifying the pro-apartheid narrative and weapons are humanity’s common enemy. Albanese’s supporters argue she is being a target of a smear campaign and describe her as “the last barrier of Israel’s impunity”.

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