'Rotten to the core': Francesca Albanese doesn't deny antisemitic blood libel allegations

UN's Francesca Albanese scolded a follower for implying all Jews, not just Israelis, were cannibalistic.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF DECEMBER 28, 2024 05:34

Press briefing by Francesca Albanese, Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories at UN Headquarters on October 27, 2022. (photo credit: Lev Radin/Shutterstock)

United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese did not respond to seriously antisemitic blood libel claims that Jews eat human flesh and asserted that the IDF was "rotten". 

In a post on X/Twitter, Albanese referenced an opinion piece published in Haaretz, a left-wing Israeli newspaper, which cited an IDF veteran's anonymous report that he saw his commander break a 4-year-old Palestinian boy's arm and leg with his bare hands, then stepped on his stomach three times. 

Albanese said that this report proved that "not only the Israeli army is ROTTEN to the core, but so are all governments that allow these sickening crimes to be normalized."

Stories like the Israeli commander breaking the bones of a 4 year old Palestinian child with bare hands, are a confirmation that not only the Israeli army is ROTTEN to the core, but so are all governments that allow these sickening crimes to be normalized. https://t.co/O9DXb1Ye8b pic.twitter.com/spEiYdsLz8

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 24, 2024

An account commented below her original thread and said that the purported violence was "not surprising coming from the Jews." The comment continued to assert that "Jews are capable of eating human flesh."

Albanese's response

Albanese did not refute the antisemitic comment, but replied that not all Jews are responsible for Israel.

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE)

"Do not attribute what Israel does to all Jewish people, please," the UN special rapporteur wrote. "Many, including Holocaust survivors, continue to rise against Israel's crimes against the Palestinians."

Albanese has repeatedly pushed antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. In February of 2024, she downplayed the October 7 massacre as a “reaction to Israel’s oppression." She has previously called Gaza, "the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century,” according to reporting from The Jerusalem Post. 

She has also previously made parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany, which the World Jewish Congress called "not only deeply offensive but a gross distortion of history," according to reporting from the Post. She has also previously compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. 

UN Watch has called for sanctions against Albanese, but no action has been taken yet.