US Envoy Demands Removal of UN Palestine Rapporteur Over Criticism of “Israel”
By Staff, Agencies
A US envoy to the United Nations has called for the removal of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine, launching a sharp verbal attack against her and accusing her of hostility toward the United States, the West, “Israel” and the Jewish people.
Jeff Bartos, the US representative for UN Management and Reform, made the remarks on Monday, describing Albanese as a “moral fugitive” and a “lunatic” while questioning her continued role within the international organization.
Bartos accused the UN of allowing Albanese to damage its reputation and alleged that her statements had contributed to conflicts the organization was established to resolve.
“[The UN] allows a charlatan to soil the UN uniform—even as she stokes the very conflicts this body was created to end—and even as her words are found in terrorists’ chants,” he said.
He further claimed that some UN colleagues had privately expressed similar concerns, describing Albanese and others he considers comparable as “institutional poison” and saying they served no useful purpose.
“Start by saying publicly what you say to me privately. That the UN should not be a nursery for evil. That its brand has been soiled long enough. That Albanese must go,” Bartos insisted.
Albanese is an Italian academic and international lawyer specializing in human rights and West Asia. She has served as the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 since May 2022.
Throughout her tenure, she has published several reports examining the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians and has strongly condemned the actions of the “Israeli” regime in the occupied Palestinian territories.
On March 26, 2024, Albanese presented her report, Anatomy of a Genocide, during the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the report, she concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that “Israel” was committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
More recently, on March 23, 2026, she released another report titled Torture and Genocide, examining the human rights situation in Palestine and detailing what she described as the systematic use of torture against Palestinians by “Israeli” authorities since October 7, 2023.
In the report, Albanese argued that torture had become an integral component of what she characterized as a “settler-colonial genocide,” describing the practice as widespread across the Palestinian territories and sustained through policies that undermine the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.
She maintained that the intent to commit genocide was evident in the scale and systematic nature of the alleged abuses, linking the use of torture to broader policies directed against Palestinians.
“Torture has always been a central feature of the dispossession of Palestinians by ‘Israel.’ Yet, since October 2023, ‘Israel’ has employed torture on a scale that suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent,” she stated in the report.
Albanese’s outspoken criticism of “Israel” and her repeated condemnation of its military operations and treatment of Palestinians have made her a target of sustained opposition from “Israeli” officials.
The “Israeli” entity has designated her persona non grata, barring her from entering the occupied Palestinian territories.
Bartos’s latest remarks add to the controversy surrounding Albanese’s mandate, highlighting continuing tensions over her assessments of alleged human rights violations in Palestine and the political pressure facing UN officials who publicly criticize “Israel’s” conduct in the occupied territories.
