UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese was again the subject of an antisemitism controversy when she expressed gratitude at the sharing of an antisemitic quote by a white supremacist.
The quote Albanese responded to was attributed to the late Dr. Hajo Meyer, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who expressed extreme anti-Israel views and even engaged in conspiracy theories claiming that Israel was involved in the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. In the quote attributed to him, Meyer stated, "An antisemite used to be someone who disliked Jews, now it is someone who Jews dislike."
Albanese wrote in response to the sharing of this quote, "Thanks for sharing this, I will look for Dr Meyer's work."
However, the quote did not originate with Dr. Hajo Meyer, who said it in 2007, but with Joseph Sobran, who coined a nearly identical line seven years earlier in 2000.
In a book for the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial and Nazi apologist organization, Sobran wrote “An antisemite used to mean a man who hated Jews. Now it means a man who is hated by Jews.”
He repeated that exact line in an article defending the Institute for Historical Review in 2002.
Sobran was considered an antisemite by conservative leader William F. Buckley. In 1999, Sobran wrote an article in which he claimed that "Jews have been brilliantly subversive of the cultures of the natives they have lived amongst. Their tendencies, especially in modern times, have been radical and nihilistic." He also wrote, "History is replete with the lesson that a country in which the Jews get the upper hand is in danger."
Albanese has frequently said things widely considered to be antisemitic. Last week, she shared a Twitter post containing a picture many consider antisemitic along with blame for Israel for the 9/11 attacks, calling the thread a "must-read."
"A must-read for the ages. Especially young people should read it: recovering from historical amnesia is the antidote we need to rewire ourselves as humanity," Albanese wrote of the lengthy post on X by Chris Hedges.
The post she shared and called a "must-read" featured an image of a skeletal figure in a hazmat suit with a gas mask. The figure has glowing red eyes reminiscent of the cyborgs from the Terminator franchise and wears a large Israeli flag and a small American flag on its suit. It holds up two bloody gloved hands, both giving a thumbs up.
The post also blamed Israel for 9/11, though it did not accuse the Jewish State of being behind the attacks of Al Qaeda, instead accusing Israel of being the motivation for the attacks.
Hedges' post ended with a prediction of the death of both Israel and the United States.
Albanese has come under fire for a series of anti-Israel posts on X over the last week.
One of those posts compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and Albanese wrote, among other things, “Our collective obliviousness to what led, 100 years ago, to the Third Reich's expansionism and the genocide of people not in conformity with the ‘pure race’ is asinine. And it is leading to the commission of yet another genocide, yet another regional war and potentially yet another global one.”
In another post, the UN rapporteur accused Israel of killing hundreds of UN staff and called for it to lose its seat at the UN.
“For decades Israel has violated international law, including UN resolutions and CJ orders. This year it has bombed dozens of UN premises, killed hundreds of UN staff, accused UN officials of ‘terrorism’ and ‘antisemitism’ among others. Now it is attacking peacekeepers. When will Israel be UNseated?” she wrote.
In a third post, Albanese mocked the Hezbollah UAV attack in which four young IDF recruits were killed. Sharing a post from Sky News which identified the four soldiers, all 19 years of age, as “teenagers”, she wrote, “Is Sky News accusing Israel of child soldiers?”
Her posts were condemned by the World Jewish Congress, which said, "The constant statements made by Francesca Albanese comparing Israel to Nazi Germany are not only deeply offensive, but a gross distortion of history. This blatant Holocaust inversion and antisemitism weaponizes the tragedy of the Jewish people to demonize Israel.”
“Such speech by officials not only undermines the UN’s integrity but also violates the principles on which it was established—principles born from the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jewish people. It’s imperative the UN ensures its platforms are not hijacked to spread hatred and fuel division. Accountability is needed now,” it added.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also condemned Albanese’s rhetoric and demanded that she be removed from her role.
“The United Nations system has long demonstrated ceaseless, deeply-ingrained bias against the state of Israel. Since the Hamas pogrom of October 7, 2023 and the beginning of Israel’s war to defend itself, the UN’s one-sided condemnations have reached a fever pitch,” it said.
“One of the worst offenders in the entire apparatus is Francesca Albanese, the body’s Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories. Albanese’s malign fixation on the Jewish state has of late escalated to comparing it to Nazi Germany, mocking the recent tragic deaths of four IDF soldiers, and even demanding that Israel be stripped of its seat at the UN. This comes after she claimed that the Hamas pogrom was not an act of antisemitism, which drew the condemnation of several governments, including the United States.”
“Albanese’s rhetoric reflects a lack of basic decency and humanity and consistently violates her obligations under the Charter and code of conduct of the UN. She therefore must be immediately removed from her post if the UN is to salvage the modicum of its integrity that still remains,” the statement concluded.
In 2022, antisemitic posts Albanese had made to X (then Twitter) criticizing the "Jewish lobby" came to light, exposing her anti-Israel bias.
At the time, Albanese rejected arguments that the comments about the “Jewish lobby” were antisemitic and claimed they were “mischaracterized”.
Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, she has condemned Israel for defending itself and gone as far as to claim that Israel has no right to defend itself.
Later, Albanese denied that the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7 was antisemitic.