The amplification of disinformation about United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese has prompted at least four European governments to call for her resignation over comments she never made.
Responding to a deliberately truncated clip circulating online in which the special rapporteur for the human rights situation in Palestine ostensibly refers to Israel as “the common enemy of humanity”, leading politicians and diplomatic figures from France, Germany, Italy and the US sharply condemned Albanese, with many calling for her immediate resignation.
This includes German foreign minister Johann Wadephul, who called her position “untenable”; French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said France “unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks” and called for her to step down; and Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani, who said that her “behaviours…are not appropriate for the position she holds”.
Other figures who have amplified the disinformation include the Czech Republic’s foreign minister Petr Macinka, who quoted Albanese on X as having called Israel a “common enemy of humanity” and called for her resignation; and US ambassador Mike Waltz, who similarly quoted her saying the same while accusing her of being an antisemite.
Austrian foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger went further, accusing Albanese of spreading hate speech and failing to meet the standards of impartiality expected of UN representatives.
Actual remarks
While Albanese was critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the media reporting around it, in the remarks being referred to – made during a roundtable event in Doha organised by Al Jazeera, in which she spoke for roughly four minutes – the phrase is not directed at the state of Israel itself.
“The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support. This is a challenge. The fact that most of the media in the Western world has been amplifying the pro-apartheid genocidal narrative is a challenge,” she said.
“At the same time, here also lays the opportunity, because if international law has been stabbed in the heart, it’s also true that never before has the global community seen the challenges we all face.
“We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy, and freedoms, the respect of fundamental freedoms is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox we have to regain our freedom.”
Multiple media outlets, including Reuters and France24, as well as the UN Human Rights Office, have all confirmed that the video being referred to is doctored, and that while Albanese was critical of Israel, she never made the remarks being falsely attributed to her.
During a press conference, Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for example, stated that Albanese “did not characterise any state as an enemy of humanity” and invited “all to go see her remarks”.
Hurtado added Albanese was clearly referring to “broader systemic threats” to human rights, and that her office is “very worried” about escalating “personal attacks, threats and disinformation” targeting UN officials and independent experts.
She further warned that such campaigns distract from “serious human rights issues,” including ongoing ceasefire violations being committed by the Israeli military on a daily basis.
Despite being granted diplomatic immunity under her remit as a special rapporteur, Albanese was previously sanctioned by the Trump administration in July 2025 – along with multiple members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – after she sent “threatening letters” to a number of multinational companies, including from the US, that warned of their complicity in gross violations of international law. The sanctions mean that Albanese is unable to access any banks accounts or assets based in the US, and is unable to travel to the country.
Albanese herself has rejected the accusations made against her, and clarified on social media that “the common enemy of humanity is the system that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it”.
She has also highlighted posts on X that suggest the truncated clip was initially shared online by Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, a pro-Israel non-governmental organisation that has repeatedly condemned Albanese since October 7 for being “antisemitic” and “pro-Hamas”.
Commenting, Albanese said, “repeating a lie until it’s accepted – ‘illusory truth effect’– is a tactic long used by authoritarian regimes”, and that “A serious investigation is needed so the public sees what honest people have endured for decades”.
Computer Weekly contacted UN Watch about the source of the clip and Neuer’s sharing of it, including whether he was aware it had been edited, but received no response.
Reacting to the incident, Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard said in a statement that the ministers must fully retract their calls for Albanese’s resignation. “It is reprehensible that ministers have attacked [Albanese] based on a deliberately truncated video to misrepresent and gravely misconstrue her messages – as is clear from watching her original address in its entirety,” she said.
“The ministers that have spread disinformation must act beyond merely deleting their comments on social media – as some have done. They must publicly apologise and retract any calls for Francesca Albanese’s resignation. Their governments must also investigate how this disinformation happened with a view to preventing such situations.
“If only these minsters had been as loud and forceful in confronting a state committing genocide, unlawful occupation and apartheid as they have in attacking a UN expert.”
The France-based Association of Jurists for the Respect of International Law (Jurdi), comprised of practising international lawyers, said it has filed a criminal complaint against the French foreign minister Barrot, claiming that his statements calling for Albanese’s resignation “may amount to the criminal offence provided for under French law relating to the dissemination of false information”.
Computer Weekly contacted the office of every political figure that amplified the disinformation for comment, but only received a response from the German federal foreign office, which directed Computer Weekly to comments made during a government press conference on 13 February.
“[Minister Wadephul] was referring to the statement as a whole, not to a manipulated video or other circulating statements…The point is that Ms. Albanese has repeatedly made statements and spread untenable falsehoods in the past, including about Germany,” said the department’s deputy spokesperson.
“The German government has consistently rejected and criticised these statements. In connection with Israel, she spoke of a ‘common enemy’. Therefore, the entire context of the statement is what matters, regardless of how Ms. Albanese has subsequently explained it.”
The Austrian foreign minister has since deleted her post on X accusing Albanese of spreading hate speech.
‘Economy of genocide’
As part of her mandate, Albanese has issued multiple reports since 7 October 2023 labelling Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide, and denouncing the global economic and political systems that have supported its war.
In June 2025, for example, Albanese published an investigative report detailing “the role of corporate entities in sustaining the illegal Israeli occupation and its ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza”.
In particular, she highlighted how the “repression of Palestinians has become progressively automated” by the increasing supply of powerful military and surveillance technologies to Israel, including drones, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered targeting systems, cloud computing infrastructure, data analytics tools, biometric databases and high-tech weaponry.
She said that if the companies supplying these technologies had conducted the proper human rights due diligence – including IBM, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Palantir – they would have divested “long ago” from involvement in Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.
“After October 2023, long-standing systems of control, exploitation and dispossession metamorphosed into economic, technological and political infrastructures mobilised to inflict mass violence and immense destruction,” she said.
Under international law, Albanese pointed out the mere fact that due diligence has been conducted does not absolve companies from legal liability over their role in abuses. Instead, the liability of companies is determined by both their actions and the ultimate human rights impact.
