RSS
US Justice Department Calls for UN to Remove Anti-Israel Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The US Department of Justice has called on the United Nations to remove Francesca Albanese from her role as special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, lambasting her repeated “defamatory” actions against Israel and alleged acceptance of thousands of dollars from pro-Hamas groups.
Leo Terrell — head of the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a newly formed unit within the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — sent a letter on Monday to Albanese, lambasting the UN official for spearheading “an alarming campaign of letters targeting institutions that support or invest in the state of Israel.” The Justice Department repudiated Albanese for reportedly informing private organizations that they are “criminally liable” for assisting Israel in carrying out a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
“Your suggestion that these organizations may be criminally liable for aiding and abetting genocide or war crimes is not only legally groundless. Your actions are defamatory, dangerous, and a flagrant abuse of your office,” Terrell wrote.
The letter then described Israel’s military operations in Gaza as a legitimate form of self-defense and rebuked Albanese for downplaying the “gang rapes, the burning of children, and other unspeakable acts of violence” perpetrated against Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terrorist group invaded southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 hostages. Terrell also cited the murders of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were murdered in captivity in Gaza.
Terrell chastised Albanese as being “a special rapporteur who consistently minimizes or excuses terrorism when it targets Jews forfeits all authority to speak on human rights.”
In addition, the letter also accused Albanese of “taking money from Hamas-linked groups while accusing Israel of genocide,” arguing such conduct “is not merely hypocritical” but also “a profound betrayal of the very principles you claim to defend.”
The United Nations launched a probe into Albanese last summer for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations that cost over $20,000. UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO that monitors the UN, released a new report this week claiming that the UN and Albanese “engaged in a deliberate cover-up” to conceal her funding by pro-Hamas lobby groups.
“Your conduct has discredited your position and disgraced the institution you represent,” Terrell wrote to Albanese. “We call on the United Nations to immediately remove you from your role and restore the integrity of the special rapporteur mandate.”
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has held the position of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories since 2022. The position authorizes her to monitor and report on alleged “human rights violations” that Israel supposedly commits against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Critics of Albanese have long accused her of exhibiting an excessive anti-Israel bias, calling into question her fairness and neutrality.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s attacks on the Jewish state.
In the months following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities across southern Israel, Albanese accused the Jewish state of enacting a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people had been killed in the Gaza war as a result of Israeli actions.
She has also celebrated the anti-Israel protesters rampaging across US college campuses, saying they represent a “revolution” and give her “hope.”
Last month, the UN Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of Albanese, despite widespread calls from several countries and NGOs urging UN members to oppose her reappointment due to her controversial remarks and alleged pro-Hamas stance.
The post US Justice Department Calls for UN to Remove Anti-Israel Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Has Accepted Trump’s Gaza Ceasefire Proposal, Foreign Minister Says
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar attends a press conference with the Danish Foreign Minister (not pictured) in Jerusalem, Sept. 7, 2025. Photo: Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard/via REUTERS
Israel has accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal from US President Donald Trump, Israel‘s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Saar said that Israel was ready to accept a full deal ending the war that would include the release of hostages and Hamas laying down its arms.
According to a senior Israeli official, the latest US proposal calls for Hamas to return all 48 remaining living and dead hostages on the first day of a ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held to end the war.
Hamas said it was studying the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday with a warning from President Donald Trump that it was the Islamist terror group’s “last chance.”
The war began with an assault by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel in October 2023. The attackers killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza. Most of the hostages were released in ceasefires in November 2023 and January-March 2025, but the Palestinian terrorist group has kept others as a bargaining chip.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in Gaza.
RSS
IAEA’s Grossi to Iran: Not Much Time Left in Talks on Nuclear Inspections
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
Time is running out in talks between the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran on how to fully resume inspections in the Islamic Republic, the watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday, adding that he hoped the discussions would conclude within days.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has not had access to Iran‘s key nuclear facilities since the United States and Israel bombed them in June. Iran passed a law after the attacks suspending cooperation with the IAEA and saying any inspections had to be approved by its Supreme National Security Council.
The IAEA and Iran are now in talks on the “modalities” of a full resumption of inspections, though Grossi says that does not alter Iran‘s duty to allow verification measures such as inspections as a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“There is still time, but not much. Always enough when there is good faith and a clear sense of responsibility,” Grossi said in a statement to a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors.
“Progress has been made. It is my sincere hope that within the next few days it will be possible to come to a successful conclusion of these discussions in order to facilitate the resumption, the full resumption, of our indispensable work with Iran,” he added.
Their talks are taking place against the backdrop of Europe’s top three powers having initiated a 30-day process on Aug. 28 to re-impose sanctions on Iran. The curbs were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that unraveled after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of it in 2018.
Those three powers – France, Britain and Germany, known as the E3 – have said they will go ahead with re-imposing sanctions under the so-called “snapback” process unless IAEA inspections fully resume in Iran, and Tehran accounts for its large stock of near-weapons-grade uranium and resumes nuclear talks with the United States.
“I am confident that with these practical steps [on inspections] in place, other important diplomatic consultations and processes will find a more promising ground upon which to advance towards positive outcomes,” Grossi said, apparently referring to broader diplomacy such as Iran-E3 discussions.
In Tehran, Iran‘s foreign ministry said the talks with the IAEA were “positive” but had not yet reached a conclusion and that no specific time frame was determined for the next round of talks.
“On Saturday, the third round of negotiations ended and their results are currently being reviewed in Tehran by relevant authorities and we will announce the next steps when this review is finalized,” ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference on Monday.
RSS
Israel Vows ‘Hurricane’ of Strikes on Gaza to Force Hamas to Accept Surrender Demand
A missile falls towards a building during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Israel said it would step up airstrikes on Gaza on Monday in a “mighty hurricane,” to serve as a last warning to Hamas that it will destroy the enclave unless the terrorist group accepts a demand to free all hostages and surrender.
Residents said Israeli forces had bombed Gaza City from the air and blown up old, armored vehicles in its streets. Hamas said it was studying the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday with a warning from President Donald Trump that it was the Islamist group’s “last chance.”
“A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
“This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in the luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons – or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated.”
Katz’s post appeared before reports of a shooting at a bus stop in Jerusalem that killed six people including one Spanish citizen. Hamas praised the attackers.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed a 12-floor block in the middle of Gaza City where dozens of displaced families had been housed, three hours after urging those inside and in hundreds of tents in the surrounding area to leave.
In a statement, the IDF said Hamas terrorists who had “planted intelligence gathering means” and explosive devices had been operating near the building and “have used it throughout the war to plan and advance terror attacks against IDF forces.”
According to a senior Israeli official, the latest US proposal calls for Hamas to return all 48 remaining living and dead hostages on the first day of a ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held to end the war.
Hamas has long said it intends to hold onto at least some hostages until negotiations are complete. It said in a statement it was committed to releasing them all with a “clear announcement of an end to the war” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
OFFENSIVE IN GAZA CITY
Israel launched a major offensive last month on Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of residents are living in the ruins having returned after the city experienced the most intense fighting of the war’s early weeks nearly two years ago.
Residents said Israeli forces pounded several districts from the air and ground, and detonated decommissioned armored vehicles laden with explosives, destroying clusters of homes in the Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, and Tuffah neighborhoods.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump suggested a deal could come soon to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas. An Israeli official said Israel was “seriously considering” Trump’s proposal but did not elaborate.
The war began with an assault by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel in 2023. The attackers killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza. Most of the hostages were released in ceasefires in November 2023 and January-March 2025, but the group has kept others as a bargaining chip.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in Gaza.