CAA calls on UCL to ban Francesca Albanese

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the UCL, following the announcement that Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, will be speaking at an event on campus.

Ms Abanese has a well-documented history of using rhetoric that alienates Jews. Last year, Campaign Against Antisemitism organised several protests at London universities after it was announced that she was due to address students.

Below is a sample of her past rhetoric:

• She has previously posted about “the Jewish lobby” and is alleged to have told a Hamas-organised conference that they have “the right to resist”.
• She has made innumerable comparisons between Israelis and the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, which has been adopted by the British Government and UCL.
• In 2022, she reportedly addressed a conference in Gaza in which she stated “You have a right to resist this occupation.” The conference was reportedly organised by Hamas and numerous spokespeople from both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) were present. Both Hamas and the PIJ are proscribed as terrorist organisations by the UK Government.
• Last year, she was condemned by the French Foreign Ministry after she posted on X: “The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism but in response to Israel’s oppression,” after President Macron described the 7th October attacks as “the largest antisemitic massacre of our century”.
• A 2014 open letter that she posted on her Facebook account read: “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.” This is also a breach of the Definition.
• According to The Times of Israel, in 2014 in a now-hidden post on Facebook directed at the BBC, she wrote: “The Israeli lobby is clearly inside your veins and system and you will be remembered to have been on the big brother’s side of this orwellian [sic] nightmare caused once again by Israel’s greed.” Also a breach of the Definition.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The decision to welcome Francesca Albanese on campus is appalling and sends a damning message to Jewish students. She has previously posted about ‘the Jewish lobby’ and is alleged to have told a Hamas-organised conference that they have ‘the right to resist’. Everyone knows by now how Jews feel about this inflammatory activist. Are these appearances just to bait Jews? At a time when Jewish students are experiencing an unprecedented surge in antisemitism, Ms Albanese’s presence on campus only exacerbates the issue. We will be writing UCL.”