Albanese is scheduled to speak at the University of Toronto on Nov. 7 about international law and genocide
The Canadian government is facing demands to bar Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur overseeing the Palestinian territories, from the country, following comments she made that have been called antisemitic.
Albanese is scheduled to speak at the University of Toronto on Nov. 7 about international law and genocide.
Her official title is “special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” Special rapporteurs are appointed by the Human Rights Council of the UN as independent experts who report back to the international organization. Albanese’s tenure has been controversial.
“This is harmful to Jewish communities and others in Canada and across the globe, which is why there have been condemnations of these statements from multiple countries, elected officials and organizations.”
Similar criticisms have been made in the United States, where Albanese is currently on a speaking tour across American campuses.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, appointed earlier this year as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special advisor on antisemitism, demanded Albanese’s ousting from her position.
Neither the special rapporteur nor the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which appointed Albanese, replied to the Post’s request for comment.
On Monday, the Centre for Israel and Public Affairs (CIJA), an influential Canadian Jewish organization, called on the government to withhold any official meetings, strip Albanese of her diplomatic immunity, demand the UN to revoke her mandate and bar her from the country.
“Her presence in Canada should not be allowed to pass without a clear response from the government. Antisemitism, in all its forms, must be unequivocally condemned, especially when it is cloaked in the guise of human rights advocacy.”
Hillel Neuer, the leader of UN Watch, a watchdog organization that has spotlighted many of Albanese’s most inflammatory comments, agreed.
“We are calling on the Canadian government to deny her an entry visa, on account of her record of supporting terrorism and antisemitism,” the Montreal native told the Post. “Given the repeated violent antisemitic attacks in Canada, Albanese’s visit — certain to fuel more hatred and support for terrorism — poses a national security threat.”
Albanese has a long history of controversial remarks about Jews and Israel, many of which predate her appointment as special rapporteur in May 2022. A list compiled by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reveals she rejoiced when Hamas was removed from a terror group list by the European Union in 2014 and has repeatedly dabbled in classic antisemitic tropes of Jewish control of government and media. “America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust,” she said in July 2014.
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