French foreign minister faces criminal complaint over misquoting Francesca Albanese

French Foreign Minister Faces Criminal Complaint Over Misquoting UN Rapporteur

A collective of French international lawyers submitted a legal report to the Paris prosecutor’s office, alleging that the country’s top diplomat spread misleading information about Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine. The complaint centers on a misrepresentation of her remarks, which were made during a virtual address at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha on 7 February.

The Association of Lawyers for the Respect of International Law (Jurdi) highlighted concerns over the dissemination of inaccurate statements by public officials, following comments from Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. Barrot claimed Albanese’s speech targeted “Israel as a people and as a nation,” rather than the Israeli government, during a parliamentary address on 11 February.

“We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy and the respect of fundamental freedoms is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom,” Albanese stated in her Doha speech. The phrase “common enemy” was used to describe forces that enable Israel’s war on Gaza, not the nation itself.

Albanese had previously addressed the Doha Forum in December, emphasizing how political systems prioritize economic interests. “Palestine is allowing us to see what the law becomes when it’s in the hands of power. Palestine is allowing us to see what connects all injustices; what happens to Yemen, to Sudan, to Congo, and including in places where poverty has not been so rooted as it is today for a long time, including in the West. We have a common enemy and we need to face it,” she noted.

Jurdi argued that Barrot’s characterization of Albanese’s statements was an institutional misrepresentation. “By publicly portraying these statements as hate speech or as targeting ‘Israel as a people and as a nation,’ the minister engaged in a clear distortion of her words,” the group asserted. They pointed out that the UN expert never labeled Israel as the “common enemy of humanity,” but instead critiqued a political framework that supports its actions.

Albanese also faced calls for resignation from German and Italian foreign ministers over the same misinterpretation. “Three European governments accuse me – based on statements I never made – with a virulence and conviction that they have NEVER used against those who have slaughtered 20,000+ children in 858 days,” she wrote on X, referencing the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza since October 2023.

Jurdi noted that partial excerpts of Albanese’s intervention were shared on social media by the pro-Israel group UN Watch in a “truncated form.” These snippets were later amplified by figures like Renaissance MP Caroline Yadan, contributing to a “distorted interpretation” of her work. Under French law, knowingly spreading false information that disrupts public order could lead to criminal charges.