The UN’s Francesca Albanese Is Not Just a Hater of Israel, but of Western civilization Itself

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s “Special Rapporteur for Conditions In the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” displays a staggering ignorance of Jewish history: “SCOOP: ‘Read history books,’ UN adviser Albanese told after claiming Jews only well-treated in Arab lands post-Inquisition,” by Mike Wagenheim, JNS, July 10, 2026:

Lyn Julius, a British journalist and co-founder of Harif, a U.K. charity that represents Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, told JNS that “there’s the great myth of peaceful coexistence of Jews in the Arab countries, which is a staple of Palestinian propaganda.”

“It allows them to delegitimize Israel because obviously, if everything was wonderful between Jews and Arabs in the Arab world, you don’t need Israel,” she said.

There is a well-documented concept in Arab lands of non-Muslims, including Jews, having dhimmi status, in which Islamic law grants protections to the non-Muslims, who subordinate themselves and pay a tax called jizya, according to Julius….

The jizyah was a form of extortion that Muslims practiced: Jews and Christians had to pay the jizyah to the Muslim state in order to be allowed to practice their religion. It was a major financial burden for middle-class Jews and Christians, and for their poor a crushing one, as Professor S.D. Goitein concluded from his study of the contents of the Cairo Geniza.

Among the demands made on the dhimmis — the “protected” Jews and Christians — was the requirement that they wear identifying marks, usually yellow, on their clothing, to distinguish them from Muslims, that they were allowed to ride donkeys but were forbidden to ride horses or camels, that they must always yield to Muslims walking or riding on the same path, that they proffer the jizyah in an attitude of humiliation, that they were forbidden to possess arms, or serving in the military, or holding high positions of authority over Muslims. In Islamic courts, the testimony of a dhimmi against a Muslim was often inadmissible or carried less weight than that of a Muslim. They could not proselytize, on pain of death. They could not build new houses of worship, nor repair existing ones in areas where Muslims lived. In many places they were restricted in the professions they could engage in, and were limited in the areas they could live in. Jews, for example, were often confined to live in the cramped and insalubrious mellahs. Dhimmis were restricted in the owning of property. And finally, the dhimmis were periodically the victims of forced conversions and massacres.

In the webinar, Albanese also said that Israel is a “colonizer” and an “unlawful occupier.”…

The Jews, according to Albanese, are “colonizers” of the very land where they have lived for 3500 years. How can Jews be “colonizers” of the land that had always been theirs? The Muslim Arabs only arrived in the Land of Israel some 2000 years after the Jews first settled the territory.

Albanese is not just a hater of Israel, but of Western civilization itself. She thinks the peoples of Europe are wrong to try to limit, or keep out, “migrants and refugees.” Never mind that those “refugees” are in fact economic migrants, eager to take advantage of all the benefits the generous welfare states of western Europe provide. And when she bemoans their wretched treatment — “look at the way Europe treats them” — what can she be thinking of? It’s those “migrants and refugees” — overwhelmingly Muslim — whose presence has meant, for the indigenous non-Muslims, more societal upheaval, huge expense, and greater physical insecurity. Now the Europeans have begun to rouse themselves to deal with this Muslim presence, and now many of them take seriously the need to severely limit, or to end altogether, migration from Muslim lands. Albanese is horrified. Both in the Israeli-Arab conflict, and in Europe, Albanese is foursquare on the side of the Muslims.

At the beginning of her remarks at the June 19 webinar, Albanese said, “I would like to start this conversation by acknowledging that I’m sure that among those present in this meeting, there are Israeli ears and not necessarily friendly.”

“Because every time we have a meeting, it’s publicly reported as if it was a like Masonic event,” she said. “So I say everything I say pretty confident that it will be duly reported.”

Yes, those diabolical Jews are listening in — how dare they? — to what I, Francesca Albanese, have to say, which they will report with their usual malice, as they do with everyone who stands up in support of the “Palestinians.” They will say that I am prejudiced. Nothing could be further from the truth.