By Quds News Network
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- More than 100 prominent figures from the entertainment industry have signed an open letter backing the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, who is facing calls from European states to step down over her opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
At last week’s Al Jazeera Forum, Albanese said “we as humanity have a common enemy”.
However, a fake video that was later debunked had her accusing Israel of being the “common enemy”.
She later explained in a social media post that she was referencing “the system that has enabled the genocide in Palestine” as the “common enemy”. She denounced this as a “manipulation” and “completely false”.
[https://twitter.com/FranceskAlbs/status/2020983308818186721]
Albanese is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s more-than-two-year genocide in Gaza which has killed more than 72,000 people.
She has called it the “the shame of our time” and says she always asks prime ministers, presidents and foreign ministers the same question: “How do you sleep? When will you act?”
The Italian-born legal expert, who began her unpaid role in 2022, was targeted with sanctions by the Trump administration in July last year over he anti-genocide position.
France and Germany called for Albanese to step down over her faked remarks last weekend.
A group of French MPs sent a letter to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday denouncing Albanese’s remarks as “antisemitic”.
Barrot called for her to step down a day later, saying that France “unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks”.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday said her position was “untenable”.
In a letter organized by the Artists for Palestine group, over a 100 cultural figures backed her, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, Nobel-winning author Annie Ernaux and British musician Annie Lennox.
The signatories “offer our full support to Francesca Albanese, a defender of human rights and therefore also of the Palestinian people’s right to exist,” the letter says.
“There are infinitely more of us, in every corner of the Earth, who want force no longer to be the law. Who know what the word ‘law’ truly means,” it concludes.
Published in French on the website of Artists for Palestine, it also reproduces the full remarks by Albanese who was speaking via videoconference at a forum last Saturday organized by the Al Jazeera TV network.
Other celebrities to offer support for her include actresses Rosa Salazar and Asia Argento, Oscar-nominated film directors Yorgos Lanthimos and Kaouther Ben Hania, Latin music star Residente, and photographer Nan Goldin.
Marta Hurtado, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at a news briefing on Friday that her colleagues are “very worried” about the backlash against Albanese.
“We are concerned that UN officials, independent experts and judicial officials are increasingly subjected to personal attacks, threats and misinformation that distracts from the serious human rights issues,” Hurtado said.
[https://twitter.com/DropSiteNews/status/2022366456747315668]
16 February 2026
Source: countercurrents.org