UN secretary-general won’t condemn official accused of antisemitism; U.S. said to grant visa for visit

"U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is once again under fire for not speaking out against Francesca Albanese, the controversial U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, who has been condemned for being antisemitic.

Albanese is traveling to the U.S. to present her latest report, ‘Genocide as colonial erasure,’ before the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, which oversees social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

Albanese’s report, now widely circulated among member state representatives, shows ‘the masks are off,’ according to Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.

‘Albanese's target is the destruction of the Jewish state, period,’ Bayefsky said, claiming Albanese’s report is ‘a new, unhinged rant — translated, reproduced and spread across the world by the United Nations — utterly ignorant of regional and religious history.

‘[Albanese] claims the Jewish people are colonists in Israel and have been engaged in a genocidal killing spree as part of ‘a century-long project.’ It would be laughable, if her hate-mongering and incitement to violence were not so deadly.’...

On Oct. 17, Albanese retweeted a diatribe that accused the Jewish state of ‘blood lust,’ calling it a ‘must-read for the ages.’

Accompanying the article was a cartoon featuring a cyborg in a respirator and hazmat suit bearing the Israeli flag and an American flag lapel pin with bloodied hands giving two thumbs up. Bayefsky said the image is ‘classic antisemitism.’

Fox News Digital asked Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, whether the secretary-general could censure Albanese for her antisemitic commentary and whether Guterres believes Albanese is acting in accordance with the U.N. Code of Conduct. Haq said ‘on principle’ Guterres does not ‘comment on rapporteurs’ and has no authority to terminate Albanese or reduce her salary.

Asked about her antisemitic remarks, Haq said the U.N. Chief ‘is firmly opposed to antisemitism, from anyone.’...

Bayefsky said the failure to address Albanese’s conduct is infuriating.

‘In one more scandal, U.N. Secretary-General Guterres is bending over backwards to protect Albanese rather than her victims,’ Bayefsky said.

Bayefsky said ‘absolutely nothing would prevent him from denouncing her antisemitic behavior, calling for her dismissal and submitting the case of her flagrant violation of U.N. codes of conduct to his own U.N. office of legal affairs for next steps.’

Albanese did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment about allegations of antisemitism.

Albanese tweeted Oct. 24 that she was ‘disappointed’ by ‘spurious, recycled allegations against me,’ and she claimed to be ‘profoundly committed to human rights for all people.’...

Fox News Digital also asked whether the State Department intended to block Albanese’s travel or restrict her movements to the immediate vicinity around the U.N., an action it has previously taken with unfriendly foreign diplomats traveling on United Nations business. A State Department spokesperson said the department could not comment given that ‘visa records are confidential under U.S. law.’

Bayefsky condemned the State Department’s refusal to limit Albanese’s travel, given that she ‘is in the business of promoting, spreading and inciting violent antisemitism. The State Department is supposed to be in the business of protecting Jewish Americans from the inflammatory hatred of an international visitor.

‘The United States is certainly under no obligation, as the U.N. host country, to facilitate her travel outside the U.N. as part of her treacherous effort to reach American campuses. If the State Department refuses to do its job and limit her visa accordingly, then they are aiding and abetting the spread of antisemitism across America.’..."