Israel must go on the offensive against those who delegitimize it, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Monday, referring specifically to Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations 51st Leadership Mission to Israel in Jerusalem, Sa’ar said, “Over the past weekend, at least five European foreign ministers sharply criticized Albanese and called on her to resign.
“She is antisemitic. Immediately—from the Palestinian Authority to Hamas, and also within the core of the antisemitic left—people rushed to defend her. Their motives are clear. I believe we must be on the offensive, not on the defensive. We must delegitimize those who delegitimize us,” he said.
On Feb. 7, speaking during a video address to the 17th Al Jazeera Forum in Qatar, Albanese referred to Israel as humanity’s “common enemy.”
She accused Israel of “the planning and making of a genocide,” and descended into antisemitic tropes, suggesting that the world is under either Jewish or Israeli control. “It’s also true that never before the global community has seen the challenges that we all face, we who do not control large amounts of financial [capital], algorithms and weapons,” Albanese said.
After her remarks, top diplomats in Austria, Germany and Italy called for her resignation. In recent days, France has also said that she should be dismissed.
The United Nations continues to defend Albanese, Reuters reported. Following the criticism, U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson Marta Hurtado told press on Feb. 13, “We are concerned that U.N. officials, independent experts and judicial officials, are increasingly subjected to personal attacks, threats and misinformation that distracts from the serious human rights issue.”
