US envoy says Special Rapporteur Albanese ‘not fit’ for position after Hitler comparison
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said Francesca Albanese is “not fit” for a UN position, after the UN Special Rapporteur endorsed a picture drawing a parallel between Adolf Hitler and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“There is no place for antisemitism from UN-affiliated officials tasked with promoting human rights. While the United States has never supported Francesca Albanese’s mandate, it is clear she is not fit for this or any position at the UN,” Thomas-Greenfield wrote on X.
A post circulating on social media juxtaposed a 1933 picture of Hitler being cheered by supporters of his Nazi Party with Netanyahu being greeted by members of the US Congress after his address on Wednesday.
Albanese responded to the post saying: “This is precisely what I was thinking today.”
History is always watching. pic.twitter.com/QwxdZpQrLM
— Craig Mokhiber (@CraigMokhiber) July 24, 2024
Welcoming a war criminal suspected of committing genocide with a standing ovation is antisemitic... Netanyahu is not fit to represent Jewish people.
Never again? You're doing it right now together with Israel.
Israeli efforts to dismantle UNRWA must be resisted, says agency
Antonia Marie De Meo, deputy commissioner of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has told the UN Security Council that it must “push against” Israel’s attempts to dismantle the UN agency.
De Meo called for the council’s assistance as Israel’s parliament weighs new legislation that would designate UNRWA a “terror group” and officially cut all diplomatic ties between Israel and the UN body tasked with helping Palestinians.
De Meo said the legislation threatens UNRWA staff and the “entire UN system around the world”.
“We cannot afford this to become a new standard for future humanitarian operations in conflict zones across the world,” she said, noting that 199 UNRWA staffers have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, the vast majority were killed along with their families.
Some 190 UNRWA buildings have been hit by Israeli fire, and schools that were used as shelters by displaced people have been destroyed by air strikes, killing 560 people “sheltering under the UN flag”, she added.
