Jewish groups rally behind UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese amid ongoing smear campaign

Since being appointed as the UN special rapporteur to Palestine, Francesca Albanese has not minced words.

After the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Albanese called for an immediate ceasefire and warned that Palestinians in Gaza were at risk of ethnic cleansing.

On 26 March 2024, Albanese reported to the UN Human Rights Council that Israel's actions in Gaza amounted to genocide. She has called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel and cautioned arms suppliers and finance companies that they would be implicated in human rights violations.

"There is a genocidal movement out there led by Israel and supported by others. The goal is to make people lose their focus — and their mind and spirit”

In her report last month, Genocide as Colonial Erasure, her summary reads: “While the wholesale destruction of Gaza continues unabated, other parts of the land have not been spared. The violence that Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians post-7 October is not happening in a vacuum, but is part of a long-term intentional, systematic, State-organized forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians. This trajectory risks causing irreparable prejudice to the very existence of the Palestinian people in Palestine. Member States must intervene now to prevent new atrocities that will further scar human history.”

While applauded by Palestinian and human rights groups, for her efforts Albanese has been targeted by pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League, who have smeared her as an anti-Semite for criticising Israeli policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

On October 29, as she headed to New York as part of her North American speaking tour, US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield posted on X that Albanese is “unfit for her role” and that “the United Nations should not tolerate anti-Semitism from a UN-affiliated official hired to promote human rights.”

Calling out critics

While 116 human rights and civil society organisations and academic groups issued a statement in late 2022 in her support, a new petition was issued last week by over 30 Jewish groups, calling out her critics for conflating criticism of Israel with “anti-Semitism.”

Led by Israeli professor of political science at the University of Strasbourg, Yoav Shemer-Kunz, the petition states: “As Jewish organizations and groups, we express our support for Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967. Ms Albanese has been under relentless attack from politically motivated organizations like ‘UN Watch’, which have been waging toxic smear campaigns to silence her and to harm her human rights mandate. Those organizations have one objective: shielding the Israeli government from international criticism and legal accountability.”

“Look at recent events in Amsterdam... There was violence, but who started it is critical. Now whenever there is any critique of Israelis... all of a sudden you are an anti-Semite"

The petition also notes that: “Regrettably, representatives of some Western governments have been giving a strong tailwind to these smear campaigns, by accusing Ms Albanese of anti-Semitism. We reject such allegations, which are unfounded and recklessly incite against Ms Albanese, at the risk of endangering her personal safety.”

Reached by telephone on the last leg of her Canadian speaking tour last week, Albanese was sanguine about the attacks.

“Frankly, these attacks are not a great cause of concern for me because I know where they come from. There is a genocidal movement out there led by Israel and supported by others. The goal is to make people lose their focus — and their mind and spirit,” Albanese tells The New Arab. 

“It irritates me when it comes from (UN member) states because they have responsibilities. They cannot engage in propaganda against rapporteurs as this can lead to hate speech and is irresponsible,” she added. 

But she noted that the support and solidarity she has received from others has been “overwhelming.” 

She told The New Arab that she was “really touched” by the petition, adding: “Every time I’ve been attacked it’s been Jewish scholars who have come to my rescue.”

Albanese points out the dangers of widespread implementation of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, noting its “chilling effect on public debate.”

“Look at recent events in Amsterdam,” she told The New Arab, “There was violence, but who started it is critical. Now whenever there is any critique of Israelis — whatever you do — all of a sudden you are an anti-Semite because you are criticising the Jewish state and they are somehow above the law.”

This phenomenon, she says, “throws centuries of rationalism down the drain. Forget Kant, forget Hegel. There is only this eternal victimhood that belongs only to one people.”

Not only is this a “distortion of reality” she notes, but it also “belittles the plight of Jews dealing with legitimate anti-Semitism as well as the plight of Palestinians.”

Obvious 'smear campaign against her'

Shemer-Kunz, one of the founders of European Jews for Palestine, which launched last month at the European Parliament in Brussels, told The New Arab, “I’ve been closely following Francesca’s reports. There is a smear campaign against her. Instead of just reading her reports – which are very powerful testaments to the suffering of the Palestinian people – the government of Israel tries to silence her and delegitimise her and what she says based on false accusations of anti-Semitism.”

But, says Shemer-Kunz — who joined forces with groups as diverse as Jewish Voice for Labour in the UK and Israelis Against Apartheid in signing the petition of support — accusations of anti-Semitism are “the oldest trick in the book.”

In Israel, he says, “We’ve been speaking about apartheid openly for several years. There’s a whole debate about whether the situation is akin to apartheid or not, but the right-wing says, ‘Even if it is apartheid we don’t care.’”

In comparison, he notes, in Europe, “even the term itself is forbidden to use in relation to the state of Israel, whereas, in Israel, we use it all the time. It’s part of the language of international law and journalists and NGO’s like B’Tselem use it frequently.”

Ironically, when it comes to criticism of the Israeli government, he claims, there is more freedom of expression in Israel than in Europe.

Shemer-Kunz calls the weaponisation of anti-Semitism a “cynical instrumentalisation of the term to silence criticism of the state of Israel," adding that it is "not a genuine engagement against anti-Semitism.”

On the contrary, he notes, anti-Semites like Germany’s far-right AFD party and Hungary’s Viktor Orban are often “best friends” with Netanyahu.

Using anti-Semitism as a shield against criticism, he says, is “very sad” as is the cynical usage of “Jewish traditions and symbols.”

“It’s terrible that they mix genocidal war with Jewish culture,” says Shemer-Kunz.

“But that’s their only strategy. They can’t justify genocide – killing thousands of people – you can’t justify that.  They just try to silence everyone and make them afraid of speaking up. Whoever does, like Albanese, will be accused of anti-Semitism and smeared. They’re afraid of the debate because it’s not one they can win.”

Joining forces

Shemer-Kunz notes that organising the petition has helped empower like-minded groups in Europe to join forces and countered the claim of right-wing Israeli groups who pretend to have a monopoly on Jewish groups.

“They don’t speak for us,” he affirms.

Meanwhile, Albanese seems undeterred and is now in the UK for several speaking engagements including at SOAS, UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Despite the smear campaign against her, she has faith that “what can stop the genocide in Palestine is an awakening of ordinary people who want to hold their governments accountable.”

She still has faith that “international law and its full articulation” as well as “the potential held by workers, scholars, judges and lawyers – but also Palestinians and Israelis who stand against apartheid” will prevail.

Hadani Ditmars is the author of Dancing in the No Fly Zone and has been writing from and about the MENA since 1992. Her next book, Between Two Rivers, is a travelogue of ancient sites and modern culture in Iraq. www.hadaniditmars.com