Guterres — Unlike America, France, and Germany — Declines To Denounce an Antisemitic UN Official

With France, Germany, and other leading democracies following America’s lead and calling for the dismissal of an antisemitic-tainted United Nations official, Francesca Albanese, a notable voice is studiously avoiding commenting: Secretary General Antonio Guterres.The UN Human Rights Council recently reappointed Ms. Albanese to the office of “Rapporteur,” or independent observer, on the Palestinian territories. Although she frequently embarrasses the UN as an institution, Mr. Guterres refuses to join a growing chorus of countries calling to dismiss her. Rapporteurs act independently of the secretary general, so “we don’t always agree with what they say, and that includes Ms. Albanese,” the secretary general’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told the Sun Thursday. “Everyone has a lane in this organization,” he added, saying that calling for her resignation is not up to Mr. Guterres. “It is an issue for member states to address if they have an issue with a special rapporteur.”America, which is not a member of the Human Rights Council, has imposed sanctions on Ms. Albanese. Other countries, including her native Italy, have denounced her. Her anti-Israel reporting is “entirely devoid of credibility and impartiality,” the Italian UN ambassador, Maurizio Massari, said last October, adding that “Ms. Albanese cannot be considered impartial.”On Thursday Italy added its voice to those calling for Ms. Albanese’s dismissal. “The positions taken by Francesca Albanese in her role as UN Special Rapporteur do not reflect those of the Italian government,” the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said. “Her conduct, statements, and initiatives are not appropriate for the position she holds within an organization dedicated to peace and security such as the United Nations.”Now, some of Europe’s leading powers are chiming in. When the Human Rights Council meets on February 23, France will demand Ms. Albanese’s resignation, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the French parliament on Wednesday. He cited her appearance last week in an Al Jazeera panel at Doha as an impetus for the decision. Sitting alongside Tehran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, Ms. Albanese spewed her customary venom. “Never before has the global community seen the challenges that we all face, we who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons,” she said. “We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy” in Israel. Ms. Albanese’s words in that session, Mr. Barrot said, added to a “long list of scandalous positions — justifying October 7, the worst antisemitic massacre in our history since the Holocaust, mentioning the ‘Jewish Lobby,’ and comparing Israel to the Third Reich.”German officials joined the chorus on Thursday. “Ms. Albanese has made numerous inappropriate comments in the past,” Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a German Jewish outlet. “I condemn her latest statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position.”As the number of countries calling for her dismissal grows, Ms. Albanese might be forced to finally leave her post. “If France, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Canada, Australia, if a number of those countries go before the UN and say that she needs to step down, I think her ability to function is crippled,” the Director at UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, tells the Sun. Mr. Neuer, who has exposed many of Ms. Albanese’s antisemitic comments, notes that Mr. Guterres’s predecessor, Ban Ki-moon, publicly denounced over-the-top anti-Israel statements made by Richard Falk, Ms. Albanese’s predecessor as rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories.“When something happens that brings the UN into disrepute,” Mr. Neuer says, the Secretary General “is the first one who ought to speak out. And the terrible thing Albanese is doing is bringing the UN into disrepute.”Unlike American, French, German, and Italian top officials, though, the UN chief is yet to say anything in his own voice about Ms. Albanese’s outbursts. Mr. Guterres acts as if he is above the damage the rapporteur causes to the UN’s image, which is already in sharp decline globally. “I’m not here to defend what she says or criticize what she says,” the spokesman, Mr. Dujarric said Thursday of Ms. Albanese. “She has a right as a special rapporteur to speak within her mandate. People have a right to criticize her. People have a right to support her. And if people are not happy with her work, there are mechanisms to address that.”This article was updated to include remarks by Italy’s foreign minister.

Guterres — Unlike America, France, and Germany — Declines To Denounce an Antisemitic UN Official

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