Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sharply criticized UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese following the presentation of her latest report, which accuses Israel of allegedly systematically targeting the media during the war in Gaza.
During his remarks, Ambassador Danon accused Albanese of spreading false allegations against Israel, ignoring Hamas's crimes, and exploiting her UN position to advance an extremist political agenda.
"You are a liar, a fraud, and a stain on the United Nations. Your accusations are not proof, your assumptions are not evidence, and repeating the word 'genocide' does not make it true. You claim to defend human rights while ignoring the Hamas terrorist organization that tramples them," he told Albanese.
At the height of the confrontation, Ambassador Danon presented Albanese with a resignation letter for her to sign drafted in her name, stating that she had abused her position to promote Hamas's ideology, justify terrorism, and spread hatred under the guise of human rights advocacy.
Ambassador Danon added, "You are undermining the credibility of the United Nations and exploiting its emblem to spread anti-Israel propaganda. The only official letter you and exploiting its emblem to spread anti-Israel propaganda. The only official letter you should issue is your resignation letter. It's time for you to go home."
Albanese has long been accused of antisemitism and bias against Israel. Last year, the Trump administration sanctioned Albanese in response to her criticism of Israel.
In 2022, previously published social media posts emerged in which Albanese claimed that the “Jewish lobby" controlled the United States.
She rejected accusations that the remarks were antisemitic, maintaining that her statements had been “mischaracterized".
Following the October 7 massacre, Albanese argued that the Hamas attack needed to be understood in “context" and characterized it as a response to Israeli “aggression."
Her criticism of Israel has continued in subsequent reports and public statements.
In late March, she accused the international community of giving Israel "a license to torture Palestinians" and alleged that "torture has effectively become state policy" in the country.
In February, several European Union foreign ministers condemned remarks she delivered at an Al Jazeera conference, where she criticized countries that had continued supporting Israel.
“The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support ... We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy," Albanese said.
She subsequently disputed allegations that she had identified Israel as that enemy.
In an interview, Albanese insisted she "never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity,'" describing the criticism as "completely false accusations."