Representatives of United Nations member states gathered in Geneva on Thursday to discuss the latest report by the controversial U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese. The meeting came just two days after the U.S. Mission to the U.N. called for Albanese’s removal, citing her “years-long pattern of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.”

In Albanese’s report, entitled “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide,” Israel is described as “a regime of settler-colonial apartheid.” Additionally, Albanese claims that corporations have aided Israel in “its ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza.” 

 Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2025. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

In the past, Albanese has also been condemned by France and Germany due to her statements about Israel, some of which have been criticized as being antisemitic.

In February 2024, Albanese was condemned by France and Germany after saying French President Emmanuel Macron was wrong to call Hamas’ Oct. 7 events “the largest antisemitic massacre of our century.” In her response, she said “The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism but in response to Israel’s oppression.”

France said Albanese seemed to “justify” the attacks and that her remarks were “all the more scandalous given that the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the U.N,” according to the ADL.