[8] During this period, she advised the UN, governments, and civil society in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions on human rights and their application and norms, particularly for vulnerable groups like refugees and migrants.
Albanese said the United States was "subjugated by the Jewish lobby" and Europe by a "sense of guilt about the Holocaust", and that both "condemn the oppressed – the Palestinians" in the conflict.
[10] The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Anti-Defamation League,[10] and Michele Taylor, the American ambassador to the Human Rights Council, suggested the comments were antisemitic.
[12][13][14] On 18 October 2022, Albanese recommended in her first report that UN member states develop "a plan to end the Israeli settler-colonial occupation and apartheid regime".
"[16] In July 2023, during the 30th Meeting of the 53rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese presented a report accusing Israel of turning the West Bank into an open-air prison.
Passblue said Albanese and the other nominees "demonstrated strong leadership in 2024 to uphold the UN Charter, advocate for universal human rights, act to ensure international humanitarian law and promote peace and nonviolence throughout the world'.
The French Foreign Ministry condemned her remarks and the Israeli government declared Albanese persona non grata in Israel and denied her future entry to the country.
[30] Further, Albanese points to the settler colonial context of genocidal practices resulting in "destruction and replacement of Indigenous peoples"[28]: paragraph 9 and recommends the "reconstitution of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid" to address the situation in Palestine.
[28]: paragraph 97e During a briefing on the international legal responsibilities for preventing genocide, Albanese said that, given the way Israel is currently behaving, it is time to consider suspending their credential as a Member State, under Article 6 of the Charter of the United Nations".
[33][34][35][4] Responding to two reports presented to the United nations in October 2024, the World Jewish Congress accused Albanese of repeatedly engaging in Holocaust inversion by drawing comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, calling her statements "not only deeply offensive, but a gross distortion of history.
It is essentially about efforts to silence her and to undermine her mandate as a senior UN official reporting about Israel's violations of human rights and international law.
We call on third States to strongly condemn this politically-motivated attack on the Special Rapporteur's mandate and to compel Israel to comply with its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations.
"[39][40] Amid continuing efforts to have Albanese removed from her post, on 26 April 2023, Amnesty International Italy published a letter of support signed by dozens of Italian rights groups, MPs, jurists and academics.