RSS
US Envoy to UN Criticizes Albanese, Who Compared Netanyahu and Hitler, in Sharpest Language Yet
UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese, October 27, 2022 (Photo: Screenshot)
JNS.org – Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, is “not fit for this or any other position at the UN,” Washington’s envoy to the global body said on Friday, after Albanese compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
On Wednesday, Albanese responded to a post on social media by an anti-Israel, former UN human rights administrator, Craig Mokhiber, who wrote that “history is always watching” alongside photos of crowds celebrating the Nazi leader and Israeli prime minister. The latter came during Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday.
“This is precisely what I was thinking today,” wrote Albanese, a UN “independent expert” appointed by the Human Rights Council. She has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, including well before the current Israel-Hamas war.
On Friday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, stopped short of calling for Albanese’s termination, but wrote that “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.
Biden administration officials have been critical of Albanese in the past, but Thomas-Greenfield’s language was the sharpest yet.
Michèle Taylor, US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, wrote that Albanese’s “comparison of Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler is reprehensible and antisemitic. There should be no place for such dehumanizing rhetoric. Special rapporteurs should be striving to improve human rights challenges, not inflame them.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry reacted furiously to Albanese’s posting, stating that Albanese “is beyond redemption. Once again she spreads vile hatred and abuses the memory of the Holocaust.”
“It is inconceivable that Francesca Albanese is still allowed to use the UN as a shield to spread antisemitism,” it added.
“When a current UN ‘expert’ endorses Holocaust distortion spread by the former director of UN human rights in New York,” wrote the Israeli mission to the global body in Geneva, Switzerland. “No doubt possible, the system is rotten to its core. It’s high time to UNseat Albanese.”
Daniel Meron, the newly-installed Israeli ambassador to the body in Geneva, added that Albanese “abuses her UN Human Rights Council title to spread hatred and inflammatory rhetoric. The UN system should stop tolerating this and unseat Albanese.”
“The German government strongly rejects Ms. Albanese’s recent comment likening the Israeli prime minister to Hitler,” wrote Steffen Seibert, the German ambassador to Israel. “Such a comparison coming from a representative of the United Nations is unacceptable.”
Albanese has a lengthy history of antisemitic statements and has backed Hamas’s terror activities, calling Israel’s right to defend itself “non-existent.”
She is under an internal UN investigation for a lobbying and fundraising tour of Australia and New Zealand, which several pro-Hamas lobbying groups said they sponsored or helped to organize.
The investigation is currently being handled by Albanese’s own colleagues within a UN Special Procedures committee. That committee had released a statement in May absolving Albanese of wrongdoing and casting bad faith aspersions on her accusers.
After months of pressure from JNS, the UN Human Rights Office said early this month that it paid for the estimated $22,000 trip, rather than the pro-Hamas lobbying groups, though it has yet to provide any documentation to substantiate that claim.
Asked earlier this month whether US Secretary of State Antony Blinken supported a motion by UN Watch, a nonprofit, to terminate Albanese’s position, a department spokesman told JNS that “we opposed the mandate of this special rapporteur, which we believe is not productive.”
“When it comes to the individual who holds that position, we can’t help but note a history of incendiary comments online and in her public statements,” the Foggy Bottom spokesman added.
The office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres has consistently declined to comment on Albanese’s statements and actions, with his spokespeople saying that Guterres didn’t appoint Albanese and has no authority over her.
Albanese serves in a voluntary role under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, and Guterres’s office claims that due to her being among the “independent experts” in that mechanism, she is free to speak as she wants without repercussion or criticism from the secretary-general.
The post US Envoy to UN Criticizes Albanese, Who Compared Netanyahu and Hitler, in Sharpest Language Yet first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Estonian summer camp removes names of Nazi SS leaders from monument after Jewish group objects
The monument had the names of four Estonian leaders of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS.
The post Estonian summer camp removes names of Nazi SS leaders from monument after Jewish group objects appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
RSS
Anti-Israel Hate, Iranian Influence Take Center Stage at Olympic Games
Soldiers patrol on a street in front of the Eiffel Tower ahead of the Olympics on July 21, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth
This year, Israel has sent 88 athletes to Paris to participate in the Olympic Games, under heavy security and guarded by Israeli and French officers. In the opening ceremony, the alphabetical order of the countries had to be slightly adjusted to separate Israeli athletes from the Iranian delegation.
On Friday, Israeli athletes had to be escorted by armed French security to the Olympic Village, as anti-Israel protests erupted across France’s capital, some of them becoming violent, with calls for the blood of Israel’s athletes.
When Israel faced off with Mali on Wednesday, in their first soccer match of the Olympics, the Israeli anthem was drowned out by jeers and abuse, and Israeli players were faced with constant insults hurled from fans in the bleachers.
Earlier this week, Israel’s foreign minister warned France of an Iranian-backed plot to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli athletes in Paris. And on Sunday, Israeli athletes had their personal information hacked and leaked publicly by cyber criminals, who are believed to be affiliated with Iran. Two men have already been arrested in Paris for plotting terror attacks during the games, likely targeting Israeli athletes. Israel’s athletes have remained under 24 hour security by French and Israeli forces since arriving in France.
The specific targeting of Israeli athletes is an example of textbook xenophobia. Because of the Israeli government’s military campaign in Gaza, Israeli athletes, who simply want to participate in the Olympics and compete for gold medals, are targeted and threatened violently because of their national identity. One would think that people learned their lesson from the horrifying 1972 Munich tragedy, but it seems that for some, that wasn’t enough. And for the Iranian regime, all attacks, protests, and threats against Israeli athletes serve the government’s agenda of denormalizing and destabilizing Israel’s standing on the world stage, and attempting to alienate Israel, turning it into a pariah state.
Earlier this month, Adidas announced that it was bringing back its 1972 Munich Olympic shoes, and that they would be modeled by Palestinian supermodel Bella Hadid, one of the Internet’s leading anti-Israel propagandists, who constantly maligns and libels the Jewish State to her millions of followers on social media. Adidas has since walked back its Hadid sneaker campaign, and issued vague apologies for insensitivity and to Hadid herself.
As a Western society that is quick to condemn any form of discrimination based on identity, it is imperative that we condemn this discrimination against Jews and Israelis emphatically.
It is acceptable to criticize Israeli’s government, but completely unacceptable to target, harass, and threaten Israeli athletes because of the Israeli government’s perceived wrongdoings. Iran and its terrorist allies want nothing more than to destabilize, intimidate, and alienate Israel and its citizens on the world stage. We are constantly told not to accuse “anti-Zionists” of being antisemitic, and yet, we see these same “anti-Zionists,” targeting Israeli athletes alone, regardless of their individual views — and for no other reason than their national identity. In keeping with the 2024 Olympics motto of “Games Wide Open,” it is crucial that the athletes from each country be treated with fairness, respect, and equality, and that the spirit of the Olympic Games is preserved.
Nathaniel Miller is a Tulane University student, where he is the president of the Tulane Israel Public Affairs Committee, and is a CAMERA fellow.
The post Anti-Israel Hate, Iranian Influence Take Center Stage at Olympic Games first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry Compares Netanyahu to Hitler After Erdogan Threatens to Invade Israel
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/Pool via REUTERS
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Sunday, hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made an explicit threat to invade Israel.
“Just as genocidal Hitler ended, so will genocidal Netanyahu,” the foreign ministry posted on X/Twitter. “Just as the genocidal Nazis were held accountable, those who tried to destroy the Palestinians will also be held accountable. Humanity will stand with the Palestinians. You will not destroy the Palestinians.”
Soykırımcı Hitler’in sonu nasıl olduysa, soykırımcı Netanyahu’nun sonu da öyle olacak.
Soykırımcı Naziler nasıl hesap verdiyse, Filistinlileri yok etmeye çalışanlar da öyle hesap verecek.
İnsanlık, Filistinlilerin yanında duracak.
Filistinlileri yok edemeyeceksiniz.
— T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı (@TC_Disisleri) July 28, 2024
Drawing comparisons of Israeli policy to that of the Nazis is antisemitic, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by over 1,000 global entities including dozens of governments.
The tweet came on the same day that Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israel, threatened that Turkey might invade the Jewish state in support of the Palestinians.
“We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these things to Palestine,” Erdogan told a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in his hometown of Rize, referring to Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
“Just as we entered Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them,” Erdogan continued. “There is nothing we can’t do. We must only be strong.”
The Turkish president appeared to be referring to some of his country’s past military interventions.
In 2020, Turkey sent military personnel to support the UN-recognized Government of National Accord of Libya amid its civil war.
As for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Turkey has denied any direct military involvement to help the former. Last year, however, Ankara said it was using “all means,” including military training, to support its Azerbaijani allies.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan praised Erdogan for his remarks on social media.
“Our president has become the voice of humanity’s conscience,” Fidan tweeted. “International Zionist circles, especially Israel, who want to suppress this righteous voice, are in great alarm. History ended the same way for all genociders and their supporters.”
Cumhurbaşkanımız insanlık vicdanının sesi olmuştur.
Bu haklı sesi bastırmak isteyen, başta İsrail olmak üzere uluslararası siyonist çevreler büyük bir telaş içindeler.
Tarih bütün soykırımcılar ve destekçileri için aynı şekilde sonuçlanmıştır.
— Hakan Fidan (@HakanFidan) July 28, 2024
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded with a veiled threat to Erdogan.
“Erdogan follows in the footsteps of [longtime Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended,” Katz wrote on X/Twitter.
ארדואן הולך בדרכו של סדאם חוסיין ומאיים לתקוף את ישראל. רק שיזכור מה קרה שם ואיך זה הסתיים.@RTErdogan pic.twitter.com/6GykLtLoh4
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) July 28, 2024
Hussein was captured, convicted of crimes against humanity, and executed by fellow Iraqis following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
While Netanyahu has so far been silent on the Turkish government’s latest attacks, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has not.
“President Erdogan is ranting and raving again. He is a danger to the Middle East,” Lapid posted on social media. “The world, and especially NATO members, must strongly condemn his outrageous threats against Israel and force him to end his support for Hamas. We won’t accept threats from a wannabe dictator.”
Turkey is a member of NATO and has the alliance’s second largest military. Its leaders’ comments were the latest in a recent wave of hostile moves targeting Israel.
In May, for example, the Turkish trade ministry said it had ceased all exports and imports to and from Israel. The announcement came after Turkey imposed trade restrictions on Israeli exports over Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza following the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre across the southern region of the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, Turkey has also announced its intention to join South Africa’s so-far-unsuccessful case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive military operations in Gaza.
That came after Erdogan in March threatened to “send Netanyahu to Allah to take care of him, make him miserable, and curse him.” He previously accused Israel of operating “Nazi” concentration camps and compared Netanyahu with Hitler.
Weeks earlier, Erdogan said that Netanyahu was a “butcher” who would be tried as a “war criminal” over Israel’s military operations in Gaza. He has also called Israel a “terror state.”
Turkey hosts senior Hamas officials and, together with Iran and Qatar, has provided a large portion of the Palestinian terrorist group’s budget.
Several Western and Arab states designate Hamas, an offshoot of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, as a terrorist group.
However, Erdogan has defended Hamas terrorists as “resistance fighters” against what he described as an Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
Israel withdrew all its troops and civilian settlers from Gaza in 2005.
Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations have nosedived since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, when the terrorist group that rules Gaza murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped over 250 others as hostages, launching the ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave.
The post Turkey’s Foreign Ministry Compares Netanyahu to Hitler After Erdogan Threatens to Invade Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.