14 Ways Francesca Albanese Weaponizes Human Rights Against Israel
Following is UN Watch’s legal analysis of the October 2025 report of Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese titled “An International Genocide.”
By Dina Rovner, Legal Advisor at UN Watch
1. A Blueprint for Israel’s Isolation and Delegitimization
In her October 2025 report to the UN General Assembly, titled “An International Genocide,” Francesca Albanese advances a sustained campaign of delegitimization against Israel - the world’s only Jewish state - charging it with “full-fledged genocide” (Para. 1). Her report brands Israel a threat to “international peace and security” (Para. 19) and declares that support for it constitutes “an offence to justice” and “the idea of common humanity” (Para. 69). Albanese calls to “dismantle” the “power structures that enabled” Israel’s “heinous crimes” (Para. 69) and denounces ongoing diplomatic, military, and economic relations that “sustain,” “facilitate,” and “legitimize” Israel (Paras. 19, 42, 56, 68). She repeatedly employs demonizing language - describing the Jewish state as a “regime of settler-colonial apartheid” (Para. 1), a “genocidal regime” (Para. 70), and a “genocidal apartheid state” (Para. 68).
Her recommendations are equally extreme. Among other things, she calls to:
- Suspend Israel from the United Nations (Para. 73(f))
- Impose sweeping boycotts and sanctions targeting Israel’s economy and military (Paras. 73 (a), 74)
- Cooperate with the politicized proceedings at the ICC and ICJ (Para. 73(d))
- Secure reparations for Palestinians (Para. 73 (c))
- Prosecute Israeli soldiers, officials, and private companies in foreign courts for “facilitating genocide” and other alleged crimes (Para. 73(b))
Going beyond the antisemitic BDS movement and the UNHRC’s discriminatory company blacklist, Albanese explicitly admits that her proposed boycotts and sanctions target the entire Jewish state, not merely the “occupation” (Paras. 17, 73). Her aim is unmistakable: to cripple Israel’s economy, paralyze its defenses, and isolate it diplomatically - to dismantle Jewish sovereignty under the guise of “justice.” Notably, this agenda aligns perfectly with Hamas’s declared goal of eliminating Israel - the very goal it tried to achieve on October 7 through mass murder and abduction.
Albanese’s report is not merely biased; it is a moral disgrace - a document that cloaks unbridled antisemitism in the language of human rights and offers a roadmap for the systematic dismantling of the world’s only Jewish state.
Beyond the virulent antisemitism that defines it, the substance of Albanese’s report is no less troubling. It is a document steeped in bias - one-sided, ahistorical, and utterly devoid of factual or legal foundation. Some of its most glaring defects are highlighted below.
2. Debases the Term “Genocide”
As the report’s title, “An International Genocide,” makes clear, Albanese’s justification for turning Israel into a pariah state rests on the claim that it is guilty of the gravest crime against humanity - genocide - along with other fabricated accusations such as apartheid and settler-colonialism. The word “genocide” appears 78 times in her 24-page report.
Albanese asserts that by October 6, 2023, “decades” of violations by Israel had “primed the situation for genocide” (Para. 13). But the genocide accusation was not born on October 7 - it long predates it. For years, Albanese has weaponized the genocide charge as a political tool against the Jewish state. As far back as July 2014, she posted an article on X accusing Israel of “incremental genocide.” On March 1, 2023 - seven months before Hamas’s October 7 terrorist atrocities - she again endorsed the claim that Israel commits genocide. Later that month, in a March 30 UN press release, she accused Israel of threatening “the right of an entire people to exist.” These statements show that her narrative was scripted long before the war began - and that this report simply formalizes a smear she had been rehearsing for years.
The only event that changed on October 7, 2023, was that Hamas launched an unprovoked massacre of Israeli civilians, triggering a lawful Israeli military response. Albanese and her allies immediately seized upon this war - instigated by Hamas - as a pretext to amplify their libel. On October 17, her Global Network for the Question of Palestine, operating under the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development, issued a statement branding Israel’s self-defense as “genocide.” A month later, on November 16, she led a joint declaration by 41 UN “experts” prejudging Israel’s operations in Gaza as “a genocide in the making.” When South Africa filed its politicized genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, Albanese instantly endorsed it in a January 11, 2024 UN statement commending the move.
Albanese’s fixation on the genocide charge has nothing to do with facts or law. It is a deliberate strategy to inflame global condemnation, to brand the Jewish State as a criminal enterprise, and to erase its legitimacy. By hijacking the word genocide - a term born from the Holocaust - she desecrates its meaning and weaponizes it against the very people it was created to protect.
For a more detailed rebuttal of the genocide charge see UN Watch Legal Rebuttal: Disproving the Pillay Commission’s False “Genocide” Accusation Against Israel
3. Erases Hamas and Its Crimes
Albanese’s report mentions Hamas only twice - and never substantively. It contains no discussion of Hamas’s October 7 atrocities against Israeli civilians, its torture and abuse of hostages, and its systematic use of Palestinian schools, hospitals, and homes for military purposes. It also omits Hamas’s genocidal ideology - calling for Israel’s destruction, ongoing rocket fire, cross-border attacks, and threats of renewed violence.
Any assessment of Israel’s conduct that omits Hamas - the terrorist group that initiated the war and continues to endanger both Israelis and Palestinians - is inherently deceptive. By erasing Hamas and its crimes, Albanese distorts the facts, absolves the perpetrators, and weaponizes “human rights” to condemn only their victims.
4. Denies and Distorts the October 7 Hamas Atrocities
Albanese references the October 7 atrocities - without naming Hamas - only to deny them. She faults President Biden for citing “unsubstantiated reports of ‘beheaded babies’” (Para. 20). While that particular claim was never officially confirmed, it is indisputable that Hamas slaughtered 38 children on October 7 and abducted 42 more to Gaza, two of whom - Ariel and Kfir Bibas - were brutally murdered there.
The atrocities of October 7 are not in doubt. They were filmed and broadcast by the Hamas terrorists themselves: civilians burned alive, families executed in their homes, women and men mutilated, children tortured and taken hostage. By minimizing these crimes, Albanese engages in denialism while shielding the perpetrators.
5. Erases the War Context and Hamas’s Role
Albanese ignores that Israel is engaged in a war initiated by Hamas, which invaded Israel, murdered civilians, and abducted hostages. The report treats Israel’s military actions in Gaza as unprovoked aggression, ignoring both the ongoing threat from Hamas and the broader campaign of jihadi terrorism emanating from the West Bank.
By removing this context, Albanese casts Israel’s lawful defense as “apartheid” and criminalizes its right to protect its citizens.
6. Ignores Hamas Human Shield Tactics
Albanese ignores evidence that Hamas deliberately endangers civilians, including its 350-mile terror tunnel network beneath Gaza. Albanese instead accuses Israel’s supporters of “erasing core distinctions between combatants and civilians” for recognizing Hamas’s use of human shields (Paras. 2, 22).
This inversion absolves Hamas while criminalizing Israel’s defensive operations.
7. Erases the Plight of Israeli Hostages
Albanese completely ignores the suffering of Israeli hostages held by Hamas under subhuman conditions, starved, tortured, and terrorized for two years. The word “hostage” appears only twice - and in both cases, it minimizes Hamas’s crimes. Once, “hostage rescue” is put in quotes to dismiss Israel’s legitimate military efforts (Para. 38); once, Israel’s supporters are falsely accused of conflating all Israelis as “civilians” and “hostages” (Para. 20).
By erasing these victims, the report flips the narrative, portraying the aggressor as the victim.
8. Rejects Israel’s Right to Self-Defense
Albanese categorically rejects Israel’s right to self-defense despite Hamas’s invasion, massacre, and abductions. She criticizes “Western leaders” for supporting Israel’s right to self-defense, claiming it is “unwarranted under article 51 of the UN Charter” (Para. 20). She further dismisses the legitimacy of supplying Israel with defensive arms, asserting that, due to the so-called “unlawful occupation,” “nothing Israel does there can be understood as ‘defensive’ in nature” (Para. 41).
This denial empowers Hamas and other terrorist actors while vilifying Israel.
9. Mocks Trump’s “Peace” Plan While Ignoring Hostages
Albanese disparages President Trump’s peace plan - the only initiative to successfully secure a ceasefire and the return of all living hostages. Each reference to the plan places the word “peace” in quotes (Paras. 31, 72), signaling contempt and implying the plan is the opposite of peace.
Meanwhile, she advocates for measures - including ending the blockade - that would leave Hamas in power and further threaten Israel’s security (Para. 72). By mocking the plan while erasing the hostages’ suffering, Albanese prioritizes political ideology over human lives.
10. Absolves Hamas of Responsibility for Gazan Civilians
Albanese blames Israel for Gaza’s “aid-dependent” population (Para. 48) while completely ignoring Hamas’s central role in creating that dependency. She fails to acknowledge that Hamas deliberately transformed Gaza into a terrorist launching pad against Israel, prompting a lawful blockade. She also overlooks Hamas’s choice to funnel all financial resources into terror infrastructure rather than developing the Palestinian economy.
Shortly after October 7, Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk confirmed this approach, admitting unapologetically that Gazans are “the responsibility of the United Nations” because they are “refugees.” Albanese distorts reality by holding Israel accountable while absolving Hamas.
11. Twisting the Facts to Blame Israel
Albanese falsely asserts that “since October 2023, Israel has turned existing restrictions into a full blockade” (Para. 49), relying on misleading data to suggest Israel drastically reduced aid deliveries to Gaza after October 7. This claim has been thoroughly debunked. Prior to October 7, while an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza daily, roughly half carried construction materials and only about 70 carried food. After October 7, the daily average was 107 trucks, all containing food - a more than 30% increase in food aid during the war. Yet by ignoring what those trucks contained, Albanese falsely claims that Israel cut aid after October 7, when in fact food aid increased.
12. Repeats Fabricated Gaza Famine Libel
Albanese also cites the August 2025 IPC “famine” declaration to accuse Israel of violating its obligations to ensure adequate sustenance (Paras. 49-50), despite the declaration’s widely criticized methodology. Data following the October 10, 2025 ceasefire confirm that there was never a famine in Gaza. Over the two years of war, Israel facilitated over two million tons of aid to Gaza, approximately 80% of which was food. Albanese also ignores Hamas’s systematic theft and control of aid, excusing the terrorists while blaming only Israel.
13. Attacks GHF Aid Based on Hamas Propaganda
Albanese claims that Israeli forces and U.S. contractors killed “2,100 unarmed civilians” at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites (Para. 53), echoing Hamas propaganda. Even before GHF opened, Hamas warned Gazans against cooperating with the organization.
GHF itself challenged media reports alleging deaths at its sites, showing many claims were based on unverified information. For example, the Wall Street Journal profiled a supposedly innocent Palestinian allegedly killed at a GHF site who was, in fact, a trained militant. A report by the Henry Jackson Society also noted that Hamas appeared to have “infiltrated crowds or dispatched provocateurs to incite violence at aid sites.” By repeating Hamas’s false narrative, Albanese legitimizes Hamas while targeting a humanitarian organization.
14. Criticizes Effective Aid While Praising Flotillas
Albanese’s hypocrisy and double standards are on full display when she attacks countries for airdropping aid to Gaza, dismissing it as “expensive, inadequate and dangerous” (Para. 54). At the same time, she praises so-called “naval aid missions” - flotillas like the Madleen and Sumud, featuring Greta Thunberg and other celebrities (Para. 54).
In reality, these flotillas were costly publicity stunts, delivering minimal aid incapable of meeting the population’s needs. When Israel offered to deliver the aid directly to Gaza, the organizers refused. By criticizing practical, life-saving aid while elevating symbolic gestures, Albanese prioritizes political theatrics over human welfare.
