ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - France on Wednesday urged UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese to resign following remarks she made that Paris claims targeted Israel “as a people and as a nation.”

At a recent Al Jazeera forum in the Qatari capital of Doha, Albanese spoke of a “common enemy” enabling the genocide in Gaza, saying much of the world has armed Israel and offered it political shelter and support.

“The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed and given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, [and] economic and financial support,” she said. “We who do not control large amounts of financial capital, algorithms, and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy.”

On Monday, Albanese wrote in a post on X that “the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday called her comments “outrageous and reprehensible” and “absolutely unacceptable,” insisting criticism should be directed at government policy, not an entire nation.

“She is a political activist who stirs up hate speech that does a disservice to the cause of the Palestinian people,” he added.

The Italian UN official has provoked controversy over her unabashed criticism for Israel's genocide in Gaza and faced heavy backlash, including the imposition of US sanctions.

According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the sanctions were levied against her "for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives."

The measures taken against her have taken a personal toll, according to Albanese.

“Sanctions are an impediment to freedom of movement,” the UN special rapporteur explained. “Then there are other aspects, such as financial measures, including the freezing of everything that is in my possession, such as my bank account, and fines of up to one billion and 20 years in prison if it is proven that there is an economic exchange, even in kind, against me. I am the mother of an American citizen, and my husband works for an organization that is in the United States. So you understand that it hits me in the heart right now.”

In an August 2025 statement, the UN commented, “We unconditionally denounce the United States’ decision to impose sanctions on the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) and reaffirm our commitment to defending fundamental human rights principles against efforts to undermine them and intimidate or silence those working to defend them.”

In September 2025, the National Jewish Advocacy Center filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Francesca Albanese for the special rapporteur’s latest report, published in June 2025 and titled From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide.

The report highlighted the complicity of Western actors in the genocidal machinery in Gaza, highlighting the role of companies such as Lockheed Martin, Leonardo, Microsoft, Caterpillar, Hyundai, and Volvo. Albanese specifically identified financial, military, heavy machinery, and technology corporations as key enablers of a system functioning as both an “economy of occupation” and an “economy of genocide.”