The investigative unit of the United Nations has opened a case probing whether pro-Hamas lobbying groups funded UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s trips in 2023 to Australia and New Zealand, JNS reported on Tuesday.
The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services told Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, on June 26 that it referred his allegations against Albanese to Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, whose office oversees the activities of UN special rapporteurs.
The UN office’s email came hours after the publication of a widely circulated video clip of JNS questioning a UN spokesman on why Albanese and other of the global body’s entities refused or ignored requests to clarify or refute details of the accusations.
UN Watch had filed a report with the United Nations on June 2 documenting pro-Hamas lobbying groups that had announced their sponsorship or support of Albanese’s trips, estimated to cost about $20,000.
UN Watch also said that Albanese and her staff may be accepting honoraria outside of established UN protocol, based on a staffer’s interactions with a parody Twitter account.
In response to the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services notification, Neuer wrote on Tuesday to both Turk and Omar Zniber, president of the UN Human Rights Council, that beyond alleged fiscal improprieties, “it has become glaringly clear that repeated incitement to antisemitism, violence and terrorism by Francesca Albanese is casting a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations as whole, and in particular the work of its human rights system.”
Neuer attached a draft resolution to terminate Albanese’s mandate, asking for Zniber’s and Turk’s support.
Albanese responded to the goings on in a post on X on Tuesday, writing, “I welcome any review of my mandate and all documents are available to the UN because I have never had, and will never have, anything to hide.”
“But the latest UN Watch move is beyond the pale. They use an email from the UN which simply acknowledged the receipt of their complaint to falsely claim that the UN ‘has opened an investigation’ against me,” she added.
“UN Watch: keep ignoring International Law, keep turning a blind eye on Israel’s massacres of Palestinian civilians and children, and stay focused on the world's most pressing issue: the (UNPAID!) fellowship of my research assistant. Back to work now,” wrote Albanese.
Albanese has become notorious for her anti-Israel bias. In 2022, antisemitic posts she made on social media, in which she claimed that the “Jewish lobby” controls the US, were exposed.
At the time, Albanese rejected arguments that the comments about the “Jewish lobby” were antisemitic and claimed they were “mischaracterized”.
In July of last year, Albanese accused Israel of transforming Palestinian Arab territories into an "open-air prison" through widespread detentions of Palestinian Arabs.
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.
In March, she claimed there were "reasonable grounds" to determine that Israel has committed several acts of "genocide" in its war in Gaza.