“France condemns the outrageous and reprehensible statements by Francesca Albanese, which are not directed at the government of Israel, whose policies can be criticized, but at Israel as a people and a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrot told French lawmakers.
Why is France demanding the resignation of Francesca Albanese?
Who is Franceska Albanese?
What were Albanese's previous statements?
What did the French foreign minister say?
Appearing at a forum organized by the Qatari station Al-Jazeera, Albanese referred to Israel as a “common enemy.” “The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world armed itself, giving Israel political excuses, political shelter, economic and financial support,” she said. “We who do not control vast financial resources, algorithms and weapons now see that we, as humanity, have a common enemy,” she continued.
Barrot said Albanese's comments “joined a long list of her (previous) scandalous statements,” including justifying the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian terrorists. “Albanese is a political activist who incites hate speech that harms the cause of the Palestinian people,” the minister said on Wednesday. A day earlier, 20 French MPs wrote to Barrot that Albanese should be “stripped of her UN mandate with immediate effect” because of her comments. France is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The director of the Israeli organization UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, published a recording of Albanese's statement, commenting that it “presents the Jewish state as an ontological force that corrupts humanity itself, dehumanizing Israelis so that all violence against them is justified.”
The US State Department imposed sanctions on Albanese in July last year, accusing her of “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel and “brazen anti-Semitism”.
