The French government is calling for the resignation of United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese following her statement that Israel is the "common enemy" of humankind, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers today (Wednesday).
“France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms. Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable," Barrot said.
He stated that Albanese's remarks “target not the Israeli government, whose policies can be criticized, but Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable," and that they "add to a long list of scandalous positions, justifying October 7, the worst antisemitic massacre in our history since the Holocaust, mentioning the Jewish lobby or comparing Israel to the Third Reich."
Barrot's comments come after over 20 French MPs demanded that Albanese be removed from her position in response to the Rapporteur's remarks at an Al Jazeera conference on Saturday, which was also attended by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.
In her video remarks, Albanese stated: “The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support ... We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy."
Albanese claimed in an interview with France24 today that she "never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity,'" and claimed that accusations she did are "completely false accusations."
Albanese's anti-Israel bias was first exposed in 2022, in the form of antisemitic posts she made on social media, in which she claimed that the “Jewish lobby" controls the US.
In December 2023, Albanese called a demand that Hamas release the 251 hostages it kidnapped on October 7, including small children and 9-month-old Kfir Bibas, "unacceptable." She has never called for the release of the hostages who were kept in Gaza. She has, however, called for the release of a Gaza hospital director who was arrested on suspicion of being a Hamas leader.
Shortly after the October 7th massacre, Albanese published a book titled 'J'Accuse,' co-opting the title of a famous essay calling out the antisemitism of the infamous Dreyfus trial for a work in which she attempted to shift the blame for the massacre from the Hamas perpetrators to Israel.
Albanese has also denied that Israel has the right to self-defense against Hamas even after October 7.