INTERNACIONAL
UN expert repeats Israel ‘genocide’ claims after US calls for her removal
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Representatives of United Nations member states gathered in Geneva on Thursday to discuss the latest report by the controversial U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese. The meeting came just two days after the U.S. Mission to the U.N. called for Albanese’s removal, citing her «years-long pattern of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.»
In Albanese’s report, entitled «From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide,» Israel is described as «a regime of settler-colonial apartheid.» Additionally, Albanese claims that corporations have aided Israel in «its ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza.»
Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2025. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)
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«Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history,» Albanese said when opening the session in Geneva on Thursday. She further alleged that «Israel has used the genocide as an opportunity to test new weapons, customized surveillance, lethal drones, radar systems and other unmanned technology to exterminate a people without restraint.»
Palestinian envoy to the U.N. in Geneva Ibrahim Khraishi was given the first opportunity to respond to Albanese’s opening statement after Human Rights Council President Jürg Lauber acknowledged that Israeli representatives were not present. Khraishi used his response not only to praise Albanese, but also to criticize the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in New York.
Khraishi praised Albanese’s report and said it provided «a comprehensive analysis of how an economy of occupation became an economy of genocide backed by a series of transnational corporations from the industry of weapons to AI and digital surveillance.»
United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese attends a rally against Israel’s attacks over Gaza, in Madrid, Spain on June 23, 2025. (Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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The representative then defended Albanese and slammed the U.S. for accusing the special rapporteur of antisemitism, claiming that «antisemites are those who support the genocidal government,» referring to Israel.
U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer was one of the only dissenting voices against the report. In his response to Albanese, Neuer pointed out that in the report «Israel is accused of genocide 68 times.»
«Israel has been fighting a just war against a terrorist army, which cynically embeds itself among civilians. Ms. Albanese, war is not genocide, but in your report there’s no war at all, it’s only about Israel,» Neuer said. He went on to question the omission from the report of the attacks carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house that took place on Monday, in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip, July 1, 2025. (REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)
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While Israel’s Mission to the U.N. in Geneva was not physically present to respond, its ambassador issued a scathing condemnation of the special rapporteur in a statement to Fox News Digital.
«Francesca Albanese is willingly spearheading the global efforts to promote terrorism propaganda. This report, just like all others by this rapporteur, is riddled with inflammatory rhetoric and is legally baseless,» Ambassador of Israel to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron told Fox News Digital. «Her obsession with demonizing Israel is clear in the narrative she pushes.»
«Her allegations that Israel is committing ‘genocide’ and is engaged in ‘apartheid’ are erroneous and offensive. Israel is fighting a legitimate war to defend itself,» Meron added. «Yet, Albanese deliberately and systematically omits any mention of the existence of Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Houthis, or the barrages of rockets on Israel launched by Iran. She aids Iran and its terrorist proxies in promoting a narrative that distorts reality and ignores the suffering of the hostages.»
Palestinians carry bags and boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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In addition to her condemnation of corporations with ties to Israel, Albanese also took aim at the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which she described as «nothing else than a death trap engineered to starve and force the flight of a starved, bombarded, emaciated population marked for elimination.» This sentiment was echoed by Khraishi, who also referred to the GHF as a «trap.»
The GHF, which has the backing of the Trump administration, has repeatedly pushed back against critics, including the U.N., and has encouraged them to join in its goal of delivering aid to the Palestinian people in a way that prevents Hamas from stealing it.
«We’ve delivered more than 52 million meals in just five weeks. Not talking points, not headlines, but food reaching Palestinian families every single day,» a GHF spokesperson told Fox News Digital. «Meanwhile, other organizations stand by helplessly as their aid is looted. We’ve offered to help them deliver it safely. They’ve refused.»
On Tuesday, the U.S. Mission to the U.N. once again expressed concerns about Albanese and released a statement calling for her removal and reiterating its opposition to her reappointment earlier this year.
«In recent weeks, Ms. Albanese has escalated her years-long pattern of virulent antisemitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias by dispatching threatening correspondence to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American corporations,» the U.S. Mission’s statement read. «These letters advance deeply flawed legal arguments to support extreme and unfounded accusations that these organizations are complicit in gross human rights violations, apartheid, and genocide. These letters also constitute an unacceptable campaign of political and economic warfare against the American and worldwide economy.»
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 11, 2024. (REUTERS/Pierre Albouy)
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In the past, Albanese has also been condemned by France and Germany due to her statements about Israel, some of which have been criticized as being antisemitic.
In February 2024, Albanese was condemned by France and Germany after saying French President Emmanuel Macron was wrong to call Hamas’ Oct. 7 events «the largest antisemitic massacre of our century.» In her response, she said «The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism but in response to Israel’s oppression.»
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France said Albanese seemed to «justify» the attacks and that her remarks were «all the more scandalous given that the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the U.N,» according to the ADL.
INTERNACIONAL
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Honores militares
El Mayor Ben Tracey, capitán de la Guardia de Honor, junto al rey y el presidente ucraniano. Foto: Reuters
El Rey apoya abiertamente a Ucrania frente a la invasión rusa. Foto: APUn defensor de Ucrania
Después de la humillación de Trump
Toda la familia real involucrada
La Cumbre de Buena Voluntad
Starmer recibe a Zelenski en Londres. Foto: AP
Sen. Lankford proposes bill to avoid government shutdowns
Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., join ‘The Faulkner Focus’ to discuss the failed vote to pay federal workers amid the government shutdown as they enter their first week without pay.
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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has canceled votes in the House of Representatives for a fourth straight week as the government shutdown shows no signs of ending.
Johnson’s move is a part of his continued pressure strategy on Senate Democrats and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who have sunk the GOP’s federal funding plan 12 times since Sept. 19, when the House passed the measure.
Sept. 19 was also the last day the House was in session, meaning lawmakers have been largely in their home districts for over a month.
Republicans are pushing a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 spending levels through Nov. 21 — called a continuing resolution (CR) — aimed at giving congressional negotiators time to strike a longer-term deal for FY2026.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, right, is canceling House votes to pressure Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, left, for refusing to agree to a GOP-led plan to avert a government shutdown. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Democrats, furious at being sidelined in federal funding discussions, have been withholding their support for any spending bill that does not also extend COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are due to expire at the end of this year.
Johnson’s decision was made public on Friday afternoon during a brief pro forma session in the House. Under rules dictated by the Constitution, the chamber must meet for brief periods every few days called «pro forma» sessions to ensure continuity, even if there are no formal legislative matters at hand.
Pro forma sessions can also be opportunities for lawmakers to give brief speeches or introduce legislation that they otherwise would not have.
Democrats have criticized Johnson’s decision, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., telling reporters that House Republicans have been «on vacation for the last four weeks.»
The government is in a shutdown after Congress failed to reach an agreement on federal funding. (Getty Images)
Republicans, however, have largely stayed united behind Johnson as the shutdown continues.
«I mean, if all of a sudden the Senate wants to pass a clean CR, I would imagine there are some options on the table that we can pursue to get things back on track,» said Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., who presided over the House chamber on Friday.
«I would defer, ultimately, to [leadership’s] decisions for the schedule. But right now, I don’t see any sign that we need to change what has been on the counter.»
But there have been several notable defections. Both Reps. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have made their criticism of Johnson’s strategy known publicly for weeks.
«I believe very strongly that it’s the wrong decision,» Kiley told MSNBC earlier this week, adding House lawmakers were not «doing all the things we’re supposed to be doing» aside from figuring out how to end the shutdown.
BATTLEGROUND REPUBLICANS HOLD THE LINE AS JOHNSON PRESSURES DEMS ON SHUTDOWN
Rep. Kevin Kiley, seen in August 2023, has been critical of Johnson’s shutdown strategy. (Scott Strazzante-Pool/Getty Images)
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Multiple House lawmakers have also raised concerns about being out of session on private weekly calls that Johnson holds with members of the GOP conference.
Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, was the most recent House Republican to suggest the GOP could be in a stronger position if they were back in Washington, Fox News Digital was told.
«I think the longer that we are out, the messaging is starting to get old,» Van Duyne told fellow House Republicans on their Tuesday call.
house of representatives politics,mike johnson,politics,chuck schumer
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The Trump administration has ordered the deployment of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group in the Western Hemisphere as the U.S. continues to target suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
«In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR),» chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Friday.
«The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,» he added. «These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.»
The Trump administration has ordered a number of strikes in the Caribbean aimed at dismatling and disrupting drug cartels in the region.
Most recently, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday that a strike on a vessel allegedly operated by members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), killed six alleged narco-terrorists.
This story is breaking. Please check back for updates.
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