Schneider, Wagner Lead Representatives in Call for UN to Disband Commission of Inquiry and Fire Francesca Albanese
WASHINGTON – Representatives Brad Schneider (IL-10) and Ann Wagner (MO-02) led 16 colleagues in a call for the dismissal of Francesca Albanese and the disbanding of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Israel. The letter, addressed to United Nations Secretary-General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, asked that the U.N. “work towards ameliorating the deep-seated antisemitic and anti-Israel bias” at the organization.
The full list of signers include Reps. Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Donald Davis (NC-01), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Greg Landsman (OH-01), Kathy Manning (NC-06), Grace Meng (NY-06), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), David Scott (GA-13), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Chris Smith (NJ-04), David Trone (MD-06), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), and Joe Wilson (SC-02).
The signed letter can be found here. The full text of the letter is included below:
Dear Secretary-General Guterres and High Commissioner Türk:
We, a bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives from across the United States, are writing to bring to your attention the recent anti-Israel public positions taken by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967, as well as other remarks she has made, that patently demonstrate her strong bias against Israel. These comments provide further proof of the deep-seated prejudice inherent to the United Nations’ approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We respectfully urge you to call for relieving Ms. Albanese of all official duties, help disband the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Israel, and work towards ameliorating the deep-seated antisemitic and anti-Israel bias at the United Nations.
On Friday, February 10, a Palestinian terrorist attacked a group of Israeli civilians at a bus station with his vehicle and murdered three, including a pair of young brothers only six and eight years old. Ms. Albanese has conspicuously refused to condemn the attack, instead offering only one-sided condemnation of Israel.
A day prior to the attack, from her verified Twitter account, Albanese praised the mayor of Barcelona, who accused Israel of apartheid and severed Barcelona’s “sister city” relationship with Tel Aviv. Also, when challenged about her continued silence regarding last month’s Palestinian terrorist attack outside a Jerusalem synagogue that murdered seven, Albanese repeated her assertion that Israel is a colonial, apartheid regime. These comments are part of a longstanding pattern of such statements condemned by members of the U.S. Congress.
Ms. Albanese has repeatedly refused to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis while continuing her condemnations of Israel. For an official tasked with serving as an independent, neutral, and expert voice on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her inexcusable silence against terrorism targeting Israelis and her outrageous and prejudicial remarks clearly reflect the irredeemable bias of her mandate.
Ms. Albanese’s comments come on the heels of last year’s antisemitic remarks by COI Commissioner Miloon Kothari, which were broadly condemned and resulted in a formal apology. The COI is an unprecedented, open-ended, and unfairly slanted investigation, which completely ignores the role of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. From its inception in 2021, this commission has been a clear attempt by the United Nations Human Rights Council to target Israel.
Ms. Albanese’s more recent comments only reaffirms and strengthens our assessment that the UN system is riven with bias. Her biased behaviors should have no place at the United Nations, and clearly demonstrate the lack of impartiality.
Again, we strongly urge you to call for severing all ties with Ms. Albanese, help disband the Commission of Inquiry into Israel, and recommit to a United Nations system free from antisemitic and anti-Israel bias. We hope that you will instead work to bring Israelis and Palestinians together to ensure security, peace, and prosperity for all, and request a detailed accounting of what you are doing to tackle the antisemitism and anti-Israel bias endemic in the UN system.
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