Maj. Gen.
Maj. Gen.IDF Spokesperson

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur “on the occupied Palestinian territories” who has become notorious for her anti-Israel rhetoric, called for the arrest of a Druze Israeli general in a post in support of an NGO linked to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

On Monday, the Hind Rajab Foundation called for the arrest of COGAT head Major General Ghassan Alian on allegations of war crimes in Gaza while he was visiting Italy.

Albanese wrote in response to the organization's post, "I understand this individual may soon leave Italy, posing challenges for prompt action by Italian authorities. The work of @HindRFoundation is essential and must continue. Hopefully, the global legal community will become better organized, enabling swift information-sharing with authorities. This will ensure that individuals suspected of int'l crimes on their territories are taken very seriously."

The Hind Rajab Foundation was founded in September and is chaired by Dyab Abou Jahjah, who has in the past claimed to have “joined the Hezbollah resistance against Israel” and “had some military training, I’m still very proud of that.”

The foundation has taken upon itself to seek the arrest of current or former IDF soldiers whenever they visit a Western country outside of Israel.

It has been working to prosecute Israelis visiting abroad, most notably leading a Brazilian court to order police to investigate former IDF soldier Yuval Vagdani who was visiting the country.

Vagdani arrived back in Israel earlier in the day, after managing to flee Brazil into Argentina. The Brazilian Federal Police later announced that Vagdani was not wanted after diplomatic efforts by the Israeli Diaspora Ministry.

Last Thursday, the organization announced that it had filed a complaint in Sweden against an Israeli soldier. According to the organization, the soldier is a sniper in the Nahal Brigade. The complaint, filed with Swedish authorities, accuses him of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possible acts of genocide during the recent military operations in Gaza. The organization claims the soldier played a direct role in the "indiscriminate targeting of civilians, destruction of Palestinian homes, and systematic acts of violence in Gaza."

Albanese has become notorious for her extreme anti-Israel rhetoric. This week, she sparked controversy again by appearing to draw a connection between the Los Angeles wildfires and the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Albanese drew attention after amplifying a post on X that described the fires and the war in Gaza as "symptoms of the same disease."

The post, shared by Mondoweiss, a progressive, extreme anti-Zionist news outlet based in New York, stated, “The fires burning in Palestine and Los Angeles today are symptoms of the same disease: a system that values conquest over conservation, profit over people, and expansion over existence.”

Mondoweiss linked the post to an article written by Palestinian Arab-American student and outspoken BDS supporter Ahmad Ibsais. In the article, Ibsais argued that the crises in Gaza and California are “connected catastrophes.”

Albanese shared the article on X, adding her own comment, “On our small planet, all injustices are connected.”

Albanese’s anti-Israel bias was first exposed in 2022, in the form of antisemitic posts she made on social media, in which she claimed that the “Jewish lobby” controls the US.

At the time, Albanese rejected arguments that the comments about the “Jewish lobby” were antisemitic and claimed they were “mischaracterized”.

Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, she has condemned Israel for defending itself and gone as far as to claim that Israel has no right to defend itself.

Later, Albanese denied that the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7 was antisemitic.

This past July, she endorsed a social media post comparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Israel’s Foreign Ministry fired back, slamming her on X as being “beyond redemption.”

In August, the UN rapporteur accused Israel of “genocide” after the IDF struck a Hamas command center that was embedded inside a mosque in the Al-Taba’een school compound.

In November, Albanese told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview that the nature of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7 attack was illegal.

Albanese acknowledged in the interview that on “the day Israel was attacked, it had all the rights to defend itself, to protect its citizens in its territory and therefore to repel the attack with all necessary and proportional measures — which means using force, including lethal force, arresting, detaining all persons involved and found on its territory — which happened on the 7th, 8th and 9th of October.”

However, she added, “Israel didn’t have the right to wage a war against the Palestinians in Gaza.”