Deborah Lipstadt has served as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism since May 2022. A professor of history — on leave— at Emory, she is best known for winning a lawsuit brought against her for defamation by David Irving, the Holocaust denier. She had called him, you see, a Holocaust denier.
Now as she leaves office, Lipstadt gave a kind of exit interview on January 14 to a group of reporters, in which she summarized what she felt she had accomplished, as well as about the rise in antisemitism worldwide. She also speculated as to her successor. But what was most interesting was what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Lipstadt about Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur On Conditions In the Occupied Palestinian Territories. According to Lipstadt, he condemned Albanese, twice describing her as a “horrible person.”
More on Lipstadt’s tenure, and her report on what she had done in a job, that she said, becomes ever more necessary as antisemitism, fueled by wildly misleading reports on the war in Gaza, continues to rise worldwide, can be found here: “Lipstadt: U.N.’s Guterres said U.N. Special Rapporteur Albanese is ‘a horrible person,’” by Marc Rod, Jewish Insider, January 15, 2025:
The U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, told reporters at a roundtable on Tuesday — her last before departing her role — that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres had condemned Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who the U.S. has repeatedly criticized for antisemitic comments, in a one-on-one conversation with her.
Lipstadt also spoke about her hopes for the Trump administration’s efforts to fight antisemitism, internal issues among some State Department staff relating to her office’s mission, China’s role as a driver of global antisemitism and her most important accomplishments in office.
The outgoing envoy said that, during an event at a synagogue during the Munich Security Conference, she had spoken to Guterres about the U.S. government’s concerns with Albanese. In Lipstadt’s retelling, Guterres responded, twice, “She’s a horrible person.”
U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly pressed Guterres and the U.N. to dismiss Albanese, whose position is unpaid, but those calls have gone unanswered.
Albanese’s position at the UN may be officially unpaid, but she has been conducting anti-Israel lobbying efforts — in direct contravention of her official duties — and having her travel expenses, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, paid for by the UN. We do not know if she has received any payments from pro-Palestinian groups for her lobbying efforts. On one occasion, Albanese went to Australia and New Zealand, where she raised funds for a Palestinian lobby group and lobbied the New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel. The Australian Friends of Palestine Association claimed publicly that it had “sponsored” Albanese’s visit, and Free Palestine Melbourne, the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network, and Palestinian Christians in Australia stated that they “supported” the trip. All four are lobbying groups. During the visit to Australia, Albanese participated in media and fundraising events, as well as meetings with pro-Palestinian politicians and civil society members.
But it turned out that the UN itself now claims to have paid for her unauthorized travel expenses of $22,500. Did it in fact do so, or is the UN trying to protect her from the charge that she has been taking money from pro-Palestinian lobbying groups that had initially claimed to have “sponsored” or “supported” her trip? Or did the UN pay for her travel expenses while she was also being paid by those pro-Palestinian groups? UN Watch has called for an investigation into Albanese’s “financial misconduct.” It’s high time for that investigation.
The office of the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism now has ten times the number of personnel that it had at the end of 2020, a sign of the American government’s recognition that antisemitism worldwide has skyrocketed.
Deborah Lipstadt has performed a yeoman’s service in her nearly three years in office as the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism. She deserves the nation’s thanks. And I’m especially grateful to learn from her what Antonio Guterres really thinks of that “horrible woman,” Francesca Albanese.
Tony says
Francesca Albanese is another deceitful, virtue-signaling, and incompetent Leftist that partners with Islam’s Muslims against Israel, Italy, and the West by using historical lies to gain more money, more power, and more control for Leftists and Muslims. Yes. Islam is a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Specifically, Islam is a Muslim Terrorist Ideology and Criminal Organization of discrimination, segregation, supremacy, genocide, polygamy, deceit, hatred, incitement, sedition, rape, terrorism, and violence against all Non-Muslims as taught in the Quran. Basically, Islam is a Terrorist Criminal Enterprise. Thus, the Truth about Islam and its terrorism, its WAR, its discrimination, and its violence against all Non-Muslims must be taught and broadcast to the general public to prohibit Islam, its Mosques, and its Schools. Furthermore, there is NO EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW in Islam or in Islamic Law.
Non-Muslims CANNOT have peace with Islam and its Muslims because Islam and its murderous god, Allah, demand a continuous, Muslim war against unbelievers where Non-Muslims are CRIMINALS under Islam as Allah in Qur’an 8:39 says, “And engage in war with them[Non-Muslims] until there will not be sedition and the religion will be completely to Allah…” HENCE, NON-MUSLIMS MUST MAKE ISLAM, ITS MOSQUES, ITS SCHOOLS, ITS ORGANIZATIONS, ETC. ILLEGAL UNDER THE LAW. Similarly, Islam and its many Organizations must be identified and declared to be a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION for their funding, teaching, and support of terrorism, violence, and discrimination against Non-Muslims.
Eva says
Baby, talk is cheap.
If that’s what he really thought of her, why is she still there?
carpediadem says
Exactly.
commonsense says
Guterres has, in my opinion, shown himself to be as much of an antisemite and Israel hater as Albanese. Time and again, he has bashed Israel, accusing the Jewish state of creating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, etc. His condemnation of Hamas and its supporters and their responsibility for starting this war is somehow muted or altogether absent. His labeling of Albanese as a “horrible person” may have nothing to do with her anti-Israel animus, which Guterres clearly shares, but with other issues entirely. To hell with them both, and with the U.N. as well.
skeptiker says
Guterres ist ein “würdiger” Nachfolger von Kurt Waldheim. Und solche Gestalten wie Albanese runden das Bild der UNO ab.