Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on Palestinian rights whose antisemitic statements have been widely criticized, is stateside on a tour of college campuses presenting her latest report that accuses the Jewish state of genocide.

The U.N. adviser, whom the global body considers an “independent expert,” was slated to brief staffers in Congress on Tuesday, but that meeting was canceled abruptly.

“As U.N. special rapporteur Albanese visits New York, I want to reiterate the U.S. belief she is unfit for her role,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, stated on Tuesday. “The United Nations should not tolerate antisemitism from a U.N.-affiliated official hired to promote human rights.”

Albanese is scheduled to present her report to the United Nations on Wednesday, and her speaking tour itinerary includes Georgetown University, Princeton University, Barnard College, City University of New York and the New School.

JNS sought comment multiple times from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, which hosted Albanese on Tuesday. Barnard directed JNS to a statement it issued defending the school’s invitation to Albanese and stating that its “educational mission depends on the exploration of challenging ideas” and hosting Albanese “does not constitute institutional endorsement.”

“Given her long track record of blatant antisemitic rhetoric and open hatred for Israel, U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese must be deemed a persona non grata in all halls of power,” the Combat Antisemitism Movement stated. The Anti-Defamation League added, “How can someone who engages in antisemitism be trusted to promote human rights?”

“The latest report by Francesca Albanese is a gross perversion of history, weaponizing Holocaust comparisons to demonize Israel while ignoring the terror of Hamas. This inflammatory rhetoric must be confronted,” the World Jewish Congress stated. “United Nations, it’s time to stop platforming antisemitism.”

Albanese wrote on Thursday that she is “deeply disappointed that various Western governments and diplomats appear to have been misled by spurious, recycled allegations against me, just as I prepare to present my latest report to the U.N. General Assembly next week.”

“I am profoundly committed to human rights for all people—how could I ever be an antisemite? Critique of Israel’s actions and policies does not render one antisemitic, especially as Israel continues to commit atrocities without respite,” she wrote. “If these governments are truly committed to international law, they ought to focus not on false claims made about me, but on ending the illegal and catastrophic situation in occupied Palestine.”

“Nobody is misled, Francesca Albanese,” said Anthony Housefather, a member of the Canadian Parliament and the country’s special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism. “You continue to use antisemitic tropes and do so repeatedly. These statements make you completely unfit for the office you hold, and Canada, the United States and France were absolutely correct in calling you out on what you have said.”

The anti-Israel activist Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, stated on Tuesday that reports in Jewish news media are to blame for calling attention to Albanese’s scheduled briefing of congressional staff.

Last week, Jewish Insider reported that Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) had issued the invitation. That led “higher ups” calling Carson, which made the latter “get scared” and cancel the briefing, Benjamin claimed.

Albanese has a growing record of antisemitic rhetoric, including comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, posting on social media about Israeli “blood lust” and stating that a “Jewish lobby” controls the United States. The French and German governments condemented her past comments, including denying that Jew-hatred played a role in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack in southern Israel.

Other senior U.S. diplomats beyond Thomas-Greenfield—including Michele Taylor, Washington’s ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, and Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy—have denounced Albanese’s antisemitism repeatedly.

After Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Albanese stated that the terrorist and Oct. 7 attack mastermind died “in a way that is quite inhumane.”

Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, issued a report ahead of Albanese’s trip referring to her as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“Her rhetoric is getting more and more wild,” Neuer told JNS, noting that Albanese repeated the debunked assertion that Israel bombed a Gazan hospital in the early days of the war, killing hundreds. Evidence quickly and definitively revealed far less damage and many fewer casualties than Hamas had reported initially, and it proved that errant rocket fire from Gaza—and not an Israeli attack—was to blame.

“She’s spreading every wild lie. Of course, releasing the genocide libel is exactly that. It’s a blood libel. It’s a danger,” Neuer said. “She is fueling attacks on Jews all around the world, who invoke her reports to attack Jews.”

Neuer told JNS that the United States should have never granted Albanese a visa to visit. “She should be removed from the country,” he said.

“It’s absurd the United States would have its ambassador to the United Nations saying that she’s fomenting antisemitism, their ambassador to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, their special envoy combating antisemitism, the State Department in their own statements condemning her repeatedly for antisemitism, for racism, and then to open doors to her,” Neuer told JNS.

Many countries have denied visas to applicants on the grounds of antisemitism. Australia rejected an application recently from antisemitic American podcaster Candace Owens.

JNS asked Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, during the department’s Tuesday briefing whether Foggy Bottom takes antisemitic comments into account when it weighs visa applicants.

“We have an obligation as the host country for the United Nations,” Miller told JNS. “We take that obligation very seriously, and one of those obligations is to grant visas to any number of individuals with views with which we do not agree.”

“The Russian foreign minister travels to New York to participate in United Nations meetings,” Miller said. “That is our obligation as the host of the United Nations, and it’s one that we take seriously.”

Albanese is currently under investigation by a U.N. committee of her peers—who had rejected the pending accusations against her before helming the investigation—that she misused U.N. funds during a November 2023 trip to Australia and New Zealand.

During the trip, she spoke at a fundraiser for a Hamas-aligned pro-Palestinian lobby group and pushed for a New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel, among other violations of U.N. policy.

Questions about who funded the trip remain unanswered after a Hamas-aligned lobbying group initially announced its “sponsorship” of Albanese’s trip.

After months of inquiries, the United Nations told JNS that it paid for the trip, although it has yet to provide any documentation to back up that claim. JNS has sought comment repeatedly from multiple U.N. offices tied to the investigation.

(JNS)