UN sounds alarm over criticism of Palestinian rights expert

A UN spokesperson on February 13th addressed the issue of attacks against independent UN experts, following criticism by several European governments of Francesca Albanese, who is responsible for reporting on human rights breaches in the occupied Palestinian territories.

As reported by Al-Monitor via Reuters, the UN human rights office spokesperson, Marta Hurtado, said: “We are very worried. We are concerned that UN officials, independent experts and judicial officials are increasingly subjected to personal attacks, threats and misinformation that distract from the serious human rights issues.” This concern followed condemnation from several countries, including Germany, concerning Albanese’s purported criticism of Israel. But Albanese claims she has not made such comments.

More broadly, accusations against Albanese have centred on claims of antisemitism, which she has repeatedly rejected. Such allegations against critics of Israel, however, are not new.

Albanese herself was sanctioned by the Trump administration in July 2025, with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming the UN official has expressed hostility towards the US, the wider West and Israel.

Sanctions seem to have increasingly targeted supranational bodies, particularly the United Nations, in instances where they criticise Israel. What’s more, Tel Aviv’s confrontational stance towards UN agencies such as UNRWA and UNHCR has become increasingly explicit.

On February 5th 2025, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused the UN Human Rights Council of antisemitism. Saar published the statement on X just hours after US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the council. Israel later joined the US in its decision to leave the UN Human Rights Council.

International justice institutions have also come under scrutiny. It was reported on February 19th 2025, that the United States sanctioned International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan over the ICC’s investigations into US personnel and Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

More recently, in June 2025, the US imposed sanctions on four ICC judges, accusing them of engaging in what it described as groundless and illegitimate actions against the United States and Israel.

As these developments illustrate, it seems that Washington has consistently acted as Israel’s key partner in attacks on the United Nations. Through the creation of the so-called Board of Peace, the US appears to be seeking to establish an alternative, American-led supranational organisation.

Al-Monitor via Reuters, Maghrebi.org