French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and more than fifty French MPs wrongly accuse the UN special rapporteur of having declared that "Israel is the common enemy of humanity" during a forum on February 7. But Francesca Albanese did not make these remarks, as shown in the verbatim version of her intervention.

Published on: 02/12/2026 - 11:27 Modified on: 02/12/2026 - 17:14

“Outrageous and guilty remarks” and a call for the resignation of Francesca Albanese: during the government questions session, Tuesday February 11, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot directly attacked the UN special rapporteur, whom he accused of having targeted “Israel as a people and as a nation”. The minister announced that he will request the resignation of Francesca Albanese during the next session of the UN Human Rights Council on February 23.

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This decision directly responded to a question from the MP for French people established outside France, Caroline Yadan, who had just asked him to strip Francesca Albanese of her "UN mandate" because the UN rapporteur would have "qualified Israel as a common enemy of humanity" during a conference held on February 7.

Along with certain French and Israeli media, the MP is among the first to maintain that Francesca Albanese made such a speech. On February 8, she published a photo on X of the rapporteur with the quote "Israel is the common enemy of humanity", writing: "These anti-Semitic remarks made in Qatar are unspeakable."

Two days later, 53 deputies from the Renaissance party signed a letter - of which Caroline Yadan was the first signatory - sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to denounce these supposed comments, this time without including a direct quote from the UN rapporteur. “On February 7, [...] she designated Israel as the common enemy of humanity,” this letter maintains.

Signed in particular by former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne or former government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire, it demands that Francesca Albanese be “stripped of any UN mandate with immediate effect”.

A quote that doesn't exist

But Francesca Albanese did not say this sentence during this conference. According to the accusations against her, the UN special rapporteur made these remarks during a round table in which she participated on February 7 during a forum organized by the Qatari media Al Jazeera, where several specialists and political leaders from the Middle East spoke.

Speaking by videoconference, the UN special rapporteur denounced during a round table the "genocide" committed by Israel in Gaza as well as the inaction of part of the Western world without ever asserting that Israel was the common enemy of humanity.

Faced with criticism, Francesca Albanese herself broadcast her intervention in a response on X from February 9, notably to Caroline Yadan. “Regardless of your personal attacks and the contempt displayed towards me, I invite you, Ms. Yadan, to produce a single quote where I would have qualified Israel 'the enemy of humanity',” declared the UN rapporteur, accompanying her comment of the sequence in question, lasting four minutes and in English.

In this extract, which is indeed the passage in question, the editorial staff of the Observers did not at any time find the quote attributed to Francesca Albanese. In this speech in which she denounces a "genocide" in Gaza and says she defends "international law stabbed in the heart", the rapporteur mainly targets Western countries as a whole.

She uses the term "common enemy" that humanity would face, but seems to designate a more global system facing those who do not control "significant financial capital, algorithms or weapons". The Observers editorial staff translated and transcribed without cutting the part of the speech in question below:

The fact that instead of stopping Israel, much of the world has armed it, provided it with political excuses, political refuge, economic and financial support, is a challenge. The fact that most Western media have amplified pro-apartheid and genocidal discourse is a challenge. And at the same time, therein lies the opportunity, because while international law has been stabbed in the heart, it is also true that never before has the international community faced the challenges that we all face. We, who do not control enormous financial capital, algorithms or weapons, now see that we, as humanity, have a common enemy. And freedoms, respect for fundamental freedoms, is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom.

“The common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM”

On

Questioned on this subject in the show En tête-à-tête on France 24, Tuesday February 11, Francesca Albanese also gave the same version, consistent with her entire speech of February 7:

"I never, ever, ever said 'Israel is the common enemy of humanity.' I was talking about Israel's crimes, apartheid, genocide. And I condemned as the common enemy the system that fails to bring to justice and bring about an end to Israel's crimes - the economic system, the financial system and the political system."

Criticism also targeted Francesca Albanese for her participation in a forum in which the leader of Hamas abroad Khaled Mechaal and the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghtchi took part.

The Iranian minister was indeed present as shown in the forum schedule. Concerning Khaled Mechaal, his name is not included in the schedule, but he is cited by Al-Jazeera in an article summarizing the speeches of the various speakers.

For her part, Francesca Albanese only spoke on February 7 as part of a round table in which only specialists in international law participated, including the former prosecutor of the International Court of Justice Fatou Bensouda.

Also read: Israel “uses the anti-Semitism card”, says UN expert Francesca Albanese

Accusations also pushed by the Israeli embassy in France

These clarifications provided by Francesca Albanese on Monday February 9 evening did not, however, extinguish criticism on this subject, in view of the letter sent by 53 French deputies the next day and the reaction of Jean-Noël Barrot on Tuesday February 11.

On Monday February 9, the Israeli embassy in France itself also published a truncated montage of Francesca Albanese's intervention on Al Jazeera, which suggests that the rapporteur was explicitly targeting Israel. The part mentioning the financial capital, algorithms and weapons originally targeted was cut.

Francesca Albanese is targeted by Israel, but also the United States, for her positions against the war waged by Israel in Gaza since October 2023.

Last July, the United States announced the establishment of sanctions against the rapporteur and denounced her “shameful efforts” to have the International Criminal Court take measures against American and Israeli officials. At the time, Marco Rubio accused him of “uninhibited anti-Semitism” and “support for terrorism”.

In July 2025, Francesca Albanese presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council a report entitled "From an economy of occupation to an economy of genocide", in which "the mechanisms of the companies that support the Israeli colonial project of displacement and replacement of Palestinians" were studied.

At the time, Israel's mission in Geneva denounced a document motivated by its "obsessive and hateful agenda aimed at delegitimizing the State of Israel."

In France, a letter from 43 French deputies, already carried by Caroline Yadan, called in March 2025 to block the reappointment of Francesca Albanese to the post of special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories. The latter was finally reappointed in April 2025 for three years in this position.

Updated 12/2/2026: Clarification regarding the list of speakers registered in the Al Jazeera forum schedule.

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