WJC at UNHRC │WJC Condemns Albanese Report Blacklisting Companies in Israel

Speaking under Item 7 at the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Emma Hallali responded to the newly published report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, denouncing its inflammatory rhetoric, legal distortions, and its targeting of global businesses as part of a broader effort to delegitimize Jewish self-determination and normalize antisemitism under the guise of human rights advocacy.

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Mr. President,

The European Union of Jewish Students, the World Jewish Congress, and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists strongly reject the report presented by Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese – a document whose inflammatory rhetoric, ideological framing, and legal distortions disqualify it as a credible human rights assessment.

The report’s credibility is eroded by its uncritical reliance on unverified activist sources and politicized platforms, including boycott campaigns and opaque databases that do not meet basic evidentiary standards. It is pre-judgement masked as research.

Particularly alarming is the section targeting the global corporate sector — from tech companies and universities to pension funds and charities — accusing them of complicity in genocide for engaging with Israel’s economy. Dubious at best, these accusations, made without legal due process, encourage economic blackmail and threaten legitimate actors with reputational harm.

Ms. Albanese claims to act in defense of human rights. But in truth, her report absolves terror, vilifies dialogue, and stretches legal concepts such as apartheid and genocide beyond recognition.

Her report vilifies Israel’s existence. It describes the founding of the Jewish state in 1948 as a colonial crime, and speaks of “displacement and replacement” as a process ongoing since the “inception of the Zionist project.” These are not legal arguments; they are ideological declarations aimed at delegitimizing Jewish self-determination itself.

This mandate does not serve the cause of peace, nor does it stand with the Palestinian people. It serves only to divide.

We urge this Council to reject this report and the mandate under which it was written. Thank you