Leo Terrell, the head of the federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and a Department of Justice adviser, penned a letter last week to Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, saying that her “gross perversion of history and are classic antisemitic tropes theories that disqualify you from any credible human rights work.”
Terrell wrote the letter to put “everyone on alert that we’re not going to follow the United Nations’ rhetoric of covering up antisemitism,” he told JNS. “They’re apologists for antisemitism.”
The letter calls for Albanese to be removed based on antisemitic comments, intensive anti-Israel focus, spreading misinformation and reportedly accepting funding from pro-Hamas organizations to travel to Australia.
Albanese’s claims that countries that invest in or support Israel are criminally liable for a genocide in Gaza are “legally groundless,” Terrell said.
“Your actions are defamatory, dangerous and a flagrant abuse of your office,” he wrote. “When individuals in official roles like yours amplify false narratives and refuse to unambiguously condemn terrorism against Jews, they legitimize antisemitism across the world.”
