Israel Bans Controversial UN Official From Country Over ‘Anti-Semitic’ Comments
12th February 2024
Israel’s government banned a controversial United Nations official Monday after she made statements the Jewish state decried as anti-Semitic.
The Israeli foreign and interior ministries prohibited U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese from entering the country after she said that victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attacks were killed “in response to Israel’s occupation.” Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on the international body to denounce her “anti-Semitic statements” and fire her if it hopes to return to being “relevant.”
Albanese on Saturday took issue with French president Emmanuel Macron’s description of the attacks as “the greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century.”
“The ‘greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century’? No, Mr. @EmmanuelMacron,” Albanese said on X. “The victims of 10/7 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims.”