UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese responded on Sunday to Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli's call for her dismissal in light of comments and actions he deemed antisemitic.
Chikli sent a harsh letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Dr. Volker Türk on Friday, calling for Albanese's dismissal due to her "relentless, systematic and irrational bias against Israel and display of antisemitism."
Albanese responded, saying: "I wonder how the 3,000-year-old "moral responsibility not to kill" can be reconciled with the thousands of Palestinians killed since 2007 in oPt (4k out of conflict; 4,4k in-conflict, i.e. in Gaza: 2008/9, 2012, 2014, 2018/9, 2021, 2022)."
Retweet (with explanatory screenshot)*I wonder how the 3000-year-old "moral responsibility not to kill" can be reconciled with the thousands of Palestinians killed since 2007 in oPt (4k out of conflict; 4,4k in-conflict, i.e. in Gaza: 2008/9, 2012, 2014, 2018/9, 2021, 2022). pic.twitter.com/lwujtF83dP
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) April 16, 2023
The reason for the demand is recent comments made by Albanese on Twitter, in which she claimed that Israel can't claim its right to defend itself against "the people it oppresses/whose lands it colonizes."
Albanese's antisemitism and anti-Zionism
Albanese is outspoken on social media about her support for the Palestinian cause and her distaste for Israel's "occupation" and "apartheid." According to Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Albanese wrote during Operation Protective Edge:
"American and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish Lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust remain on the sidelines..."
"Jewish lobby" is an antisemitic trope that insinuates that Jews have a kind of subtle power over political figures and the media.
Zvika Klein contributed to this report.