UN report targeting Israel sparks backlash, author accused of overstepping her mandate

A United Nations report targeting Israel and companies that operate within the country entitled “Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide” is sparking backlash and concern.

The report was authored and presented by U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, a controversial figure who has been condemned by multiple nations for making allegedly antisemitic remarks. In her latest report, she calls for sanctions against “entities and individuals involved in activities that may endanger the Palestinians.”

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NGO Monitor Legal Advisor Anne Herzberg said that while it’s not surprising that Albanese would issue a scathing report on Israel, as she has done so many times in the past, this latest report was unique.  

“I think that the difference now is that this report explicitly endorses adopting BDS — boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel — in a very overt way,” Herzberg told Fox News Digital. She added that even though Albanese is an independent investigator, the report could be interpreted as the U.N. supporting the BDS movement against Israel.

In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said “special procedures experts,” like Albanese “work on a voluntary basis,” do not receive a salary and are not U.N. staff.

“While the U.N. Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for special procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the U.N.,” OHCHR’s media team told Fox News Digital. “Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.N. or OHCHR.”

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Herzog told Fox News Digital that not only did Albanese overstep the boundaries of her role,  but so did the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC), as it does not have the authority to issue sanctions, something the report recommends.

“The U.N. Human Rights Council, which is where she presented her report, and that’s under whose auspices she is working, does not have the power under the U.N. charter to issue sanctions,” Herzog said. “And so not only has she overstepped her mandate as a rapporteur, the U.N. Human Rights Council by endorsing this, not endorsing the report, but by allowing this report to be published.”

Herzog said she saw “threatening and harassing” letters that Albanese sent to companies and NGOs “basically threatening them with being included on her boycott list and claiming that they were complicit in international crimes like genocide, apartheid, blocking self-determination or Palestinians.” 

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The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is a voluntary code that companies can sign on to as a pledge to be mindful of how their operations run and their customers are treated. Herzog argued that Albanese “weaponizes this voluntary positive, pluralistic framework” and that she does so improperly, making it a “binding punitive framework.”

“Not only is she distorting international law, she’s distorting this UNGP framework, and I suspect that if this type of activity of hers gains purchase or other people start following in her footsteps, she’s going to be responsible for basically destroying the whole area of business and human rights.”

Albanese presented her report to the UNHRC on Thursday, just two days after the U.S. called for her removal over her “years-long pattern of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.” 

In the report, Albanese claims that corporations have aided Israel in “its ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza.” She repeated this claim at UNHRC on Thursday, charging Israel with being “responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history.” She also accused Israel of using the war in Gaza as a testing ground for new weapons “to exterminate a people without restraint.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Daniel Meron, who was not present at the UNHRC meeting, told Fox News Digital that through her report Albanese is “willingly spearheading the global efforts to promote terrorism propaganda.”

“This report, just like all others by this rapporteur, is riddled with inflammatory rhetoric and is legally baseless,” Meron told Fox News Digital. “Her obsession with demonizing Israel is clear in the narrative she pushes.”

Albanese did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions or request for comment in time for publication.