United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese denied that the Hamas massacre of over 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 was antisemitic yesterday (Saturday) and blamed the State of Israel for the massacre of its citizens.
Albanese made the shocking statement in response to French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the October 7 attacks "the largest antisemitic massacre of our century."
Macron's statement is accurate, as the atrocities of October 7 were the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust.
In response to Marcon, Albanese wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "The 'greatest antisemitic massacre of our century'? No, Mr. @EmmanuelMacron. The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel's oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims."
The French Foreign Ministry condemned Albanese's statement, saying in response: "The October 7 massacre is the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. Disputing it is an error. Seeming to justify it, by including the name of the United Nations, is a disgrace."
"These comments are all the more scandalous since the fight against antisemitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the UN," the ministry added.
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy praised the French government for its response to Albanese, stating: "Bravo, France, for calling out this awful UN official for denying the intensely antisemitic motivations of the Hamas October 7 Massacre and seemingly justifying it as a "response to Israeli oppression."'
Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, demanded that Albanese be fired for her most recent defense of Hamas.
"The UN's recent statement to the French President, framing the October 7th massacre as a reaction to 'Israeli oppression' rather than an act of anti-Jewish hatred, is deeply troubling. I call on Secretary-General Guterres to fire Francesca Albanese immediately. The time of Jewish silence in the face of such misrepresentations has passed. We must stand strong and vocal against such narratives," Katz wrote.
Albanese has been involved in numerous antisemitism scandals since being appointed to her position as Special Rapporteur, including engaging in the antisemitic trope about a nefarious "Jewish lobby." Since the massacre of over 1,200 people 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.
Less than two months after the massacre, Albanese published a book blaming Israel for the current conflict in which she co-opted the title 'J'Accuse,' the phrase used to call out the antisemitism of the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in 1898,
She has even called a demand that Hamas release the hostages it captured on October 7, which include many civilians and even children and babies, "unacceptable."
While Albanese claimed that Palestinian Arabs have the right to attack Israeli soldiers as long as they do not attack civilians, attacks on Israeli civilians are frequent, and the goal of Hamas and other terrorist organizations is to kill all Jews, regardless of whether they are civilians or soldiers.