00:00Did the UN's Francesca Albanese really call Israel the enemy of humanity?
00:08Last week, France, Germany and others called for the resignation of Francesca Albanese,
00:13the UN special reporter on the Palestinian territories.
00:16They claimed that Albanese publicly described Israel as the common enemy of humanity.
00:22Albanese denies the allegations, telling France 24 she never made that statement.
00:26The accusations stem from a speech she gave at an Al Jazeera forum in Qatar in early February.
00:32French MP Carol Nyadon shared clips of that speech on X.
00:35One clip appears to show Albanese calling Israel an enemy of humanity.
00:39A comparison with the full recording of her speech shows that the video was manipulated using AI
00:45and circulated by the NGO UN watched on its YouTube channel.
00:48In the original footage, Albanese says something very different.
00:52She criticizes countries for arming and supporting Israel financially and politically.
00:57She also says that the global community does not control large amounts of financial capital,
01:02algorithms and weapons.
01:04In that context, she refers to a common enemy, but she does not name Israel.
01:08Still, the French foreign minister says these remarks add to a long list of controversies,
01:13from comments about the 7th of October to reference to a Jewish lobby
01:16and comparisons between Israel and the Third Reich.
01:19Meanwhile, more than a hundred figures from the cultural world have come out in support
01:24of Albanese, including Annie Lennox, Marc Uffalo and Yorgos Lanthimos.
01:29In a joint statement, they describe her as a defender of people's rights,
01:33including the Palestinian people's rights to exist.
01:36Amnesty International also called on member states to retract what it described
01:39as outrageous attacks on Francesca Albanese.
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