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Francesca Albanese is infamous for her antisemitism. She has an extensive curriculum vitae, but her official position is “United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Long before the October 7 terror attacks in Israel, she was a part of the UN and media bombardment of propaganda regarding Palestinian victimhood, Zionist oppression, the “occupied territories” and the like. Albanese seized on October 7 with further vitriol against the Jewish state. Her hatred of Israel is so open and virulent that in July 2024, even the anti-Israel UN opened up a probe into allegations that she took funds from pro-Hamas lobby groups. Of course, the UN is unlikely to conduct a full or completely honest investigation into someone who shares its institutional views. Nevertheless, the UN finally did admit that it paid for Albanese’s anti-Israel lobbying trip to Australia and New Zealand. During her visit, Albanese also participated in media and fundraising events, as well as in meetings with pro-Palestinian politicians and civil society members.

Now Albanese is headed for a speaking engagement in Canada, at the University of Toronto, courtesy of Toronto Students For Palestine, with collaborative support from students at the University of Toronto, York University and Toronto Metropolitan University.

The event, which includes many sponsors of the Palestinian “resistance,” is already sold out at Eventbrite, which is known for canceling events with whose politics it doesn’t agree.

I love all the people in my comments saying they’ve deleted their Eventbrite account. Give ’em the Bud Light treatment

Newsflash: being a woman and advocating for such isn’t a hate crime. pic.twitter.com/EQmh2JbcF1

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) October 26, 2023

A few hours ago EventBrite in the USA have sent this email out to everyone that bought tickets to see Dr. McCullough in Australia

Eventbrite can go to hell

We are making alternate arrangements to get tickets to everyone

We do not live in Nth Korea – WE WILL NOT BE CENSORED ! pic.twitter.com/raAr5B8nIE

— Craig Kelly (@craigkellyXXX) January 26, 2023

Eventbrite also canceled its ticket offerings in May for a United Conservative Party Townhall in Alberta titled “An Injection of Truth” about Covid vaccine injuries.

Albanese’s November 7 event presents Israel as a genocidal state, which is particularly harmful in an atmosphere of soaring antisemitism in Canada, but her event apparently isn’t an offense to Eventbrite. Her positions:

• Albanese stated of October 7 that “the victims were killed in reaction to ‘Israel’s oppression’ rather than because of their Jewish identity.”
• She wrote: “America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust, remain on the sidelines and continue to condemn the oppressed — the Palestinians — who defend themselves with the only means they have (deranged missiles), instead of making Israel face its international law responsibilities,”
• Albanese referred to an “unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza” as the “anatomy of a genocide,” while accusing the West of “colonial amnesia” that “condoned Israel’s settler project from the violent history of the very birth of the State of Israel.” She then promotes the pro-Hamas protests globally as a human rights issue “from the River to the Sea.”

Never does Albanese mention the extensive history of Islamic conquest through the Middle East, or the truth about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Amin al-Husseini’s alliance with Hitler “to extend the Nazis’ anti-Jewish program to the Arab world.” Al-Husseini stated in his memoirs: “Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world.” Nor does Albanese consider the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Jihad against Israel” in its documented Jihad is the Way manual written by Mustafa Mashhur, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from 1996-2002. In fact, Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood stated prior to 1948: “If the Jewish state becomes a fact, and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea.” The Palestinian “resistance” began prior to Israel’s founding and its mission sealed in the documented Hamas and Palestinian National Charters.

Albanese’s rhetoric employs the most destructive propaganda possible and at a time where the fight for Israel’s existence is particularly arduous. She lies by omission, and her effect is ominous and noted by global officials. For instance, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Michèle Taylor, stated:

Antisemitism has no place at the UN, especially from those tasked with promoting human rights.
Francesca Albanese’s recent remarks, including evoking Nazis, show yet again that she is unfit for any role at the UN. The U.S. has never supported her mandate, and her conduct is… https://t.co/m1KdHdpX8G pic.twitter.com/fqZqn6gVgI

— Ambassador Michèle Taylor (@USAmbHRC) October 15, 2024

The German Foreign Office wrote in February:

Full support to @francediplo.👇 To justify the horrific terror attacks of 7/10 & deny their antisemitic nature is appalling. Making such statements in a UN capacity is a disgrace and goes against everything the United Nations stand for. https://t.co/DFlWrs8C5j

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 11, 2024

France wrote this in response to Albanese: “The ‘greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century’? No, Mr. @EmmanuelMacron. The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in reaction to Israel’s oppression. France & the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims.”

Le massacre du 7 octobre est le plus grand massacre antisémite du 21e siècle. Le contester est une faute. Sembler le justifier, en y mêlant le nom des Nations Unies, est une honte.

Ces propos sont d’autant plus scandaleux que la lutte contre l’antisémitisme et toutes les formes… https://t.co/IGOfEP5Q0q

— France Diplomatie🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo) February 10, 2024

Translation: The October 7 massacre is the largest anti-Semitic massacre of the 21st century. To deny it is wrong. To seem to justify it, by bringing in the name of the United Nations, is a shame.

In March, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller accused Albanese of having “a history of antisemitic comments.” Miller dismissed Albanese’s findings that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza:

A list of condemnations from government officials against the antisemitic Francesca Albanese can be found HERE.

Hillel C. Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based NGO UN Watch, stated of Albanese:

Never before in the history of the United Nations did France, Germany and the U.S. condemn a UN human rights monitor for racism or antisemitism….Francesca Albanese is the first. She is today the most dangerous figure on the world stage inciting antisemitism and jihadi terrorism.

So why is Albanese being allowed into Canada to spread hatred and incitement against Jewish people, particularly in a country that is grappling with record antisemitism and with a questionable record of its own? A deeply disturbing event occurred in Canada: the Canadian Heritage Department funded the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) in order to combat hate, yet CMAC’s senior consultant, Laith Marouf, openly spewed the most heinous hatred against Jews. Marouf stated: “Life is too short for shoes with laces, or for entertaining Jewish White Supremacists with anything but a bullet to the head.” He also called Jews “loud mouthed bags of feces,” and subsequently launched a pro-Hamas Free Palestine TV program.

Marouf’s statements prompted this reaction from the Canadian Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA):

CIJA has repeatedly raised the issue of lack of oversight by @CdnHeritage in its $ to groups that promote hate & discrimination.

The latest example of gov’t anti-racism funding to CMAC and its “senior consultant” Laith Marouf, who has spread #Antisemitism, is appalling. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/t2O51nOS4X

— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) August 15, 2022

It turned out that Canada’s Diversity Minister, Ahmed Hussen, wasn’t just warned about Marouf’s obscenely antisemitic rants. Hussen knew about these statements a full month before the controversy erupted, yet he chose not to cut funding to the CMAC. The incident prompted the Conservative Party of Canada to publish a statement on its website HERE.

Laith Marouf now, as director of Free Palestine TV, proudly states on his website that his new venture was “launched with the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Flood.” The latter was the name given to Hamas’ attack on Israelis on October 7.

Ironically, Canada also has a record of ferociously cracking down on what it deems to be hate speech, to an extent that the Toronto Star published this story: “‘Government gone overboard’: Experts concerned by Ottawa’s attempts to rein in hate speech.” This came after other initiatives, including an internet censorship bill that was deemed “Stalinesque” by Trudeau-appointed senator David Richards.

According to the Center for Combatting Antisemitism:

• Since October 7, 2023, Canada has experienced a significant surge in antisemitism, marked by a 670 percent increase in incidents compared to the previous year.
• This rise has included violent attacks, such as shootings targeting Jewish institutions and arson attacks targeting schools, Synagogues, and other community institutions.
• Despite Jewish people comprising only 1.4 percent of Canada’s population, they account for 70 percent of religious hate crimes.

I spoke with Dr. Aurel Braun, a professor of international relations and political science at the University of Toronto who has also been an associate of the Davis Center at Harvard University, about his reaction to Albanese’s November 7 speaking engagement on campus. Dr. Braun immediately recited — in impressive, rapid succession — every noteworthy aspect of Albanese’s unsavory record, most of which I have noted above. He also emphasized her use of antisemitic tropes in comparing Israel to Nazis. This is, he said, a “moral equivalence” that accomplishes “a psychological inversion,” since he says: “we know Nazis, Iran, and Hizballah” and their intent to commit genocide. This is not the case with Israel, which is fighting a defensive war against terrorists who are using human shields to escape, regroup and resume their activities to realize their ambition to obliterate the Jewish state.

Albanese’s statement that the “Jewish lobby” was in control of the United States was particularly offensive to Braun, as were her sympathies to terrorist organizations.

Dr. Braun, in giving the University of Toronto “the benefit of the doubt,” made the case that the university did not officially invite Albanese nor is the campus officially hosting her; however, he expressed concern that she is still being allowed to speak there. So he poses a question to the university: given the assessment of France, Germany and other government officials about Albanese, “is this anything but incitement to hate speech? Is it not facilitating terrorism when she called October 7 an act of ‘resistance’ by oppressed people?”

When I asked Dr. Braun about whether Albanese should be allowed into Canada, he replied that he was “a great believer in the freedom of expression, but it does not mean freedom from accountability,” which includes the University of Toronto and the Government of Canada. He continued: “What if someone was a member of KKK or a rabid homophobe or an open anti-Asian racist? Would they be allowed on these private grounds [of U of T],” or to speak in Canada? The most important question Braun posed was one that needs to be asked across the West: “Why the Jewish exception?”

David Matas is a noted lawyer and recognized authority on human rights, immigration and refugee law, who has received an Order of Canada Award. According to the Governor General of Canada website, Matas “has had a marked impact on the evolution and expansion of these fields in Canada and abroad.”

Mr. Matas stated this in an email:

Francesca Albanese may be coming into Canada on a diplomatic passport.  If so, she can and should be denied entry simply by being declared a persona non grata under the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act.

If she is coming on her national passport she can and should be denied admission to Canada on the basis that her antisemitic statements are criminal hate speech and advocacy of genocide in her country of nationality, Italy, and would be also an offense in Canada if these remarks had been made in Canada.

We can hope that Albanese’s ill-advised visit to the University of Toronto on November 7 will not happen. If it does, authorities need to be pressed for an answer: “Why the Jewish exception?”