Rep. Chris Smith Wednesday on Newsmax called for the firing of United Nations official Francesca Albanese after her comments dismissing Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
The New Jersey Republican told "American Agenda" that during a congressional committee meeting, he chaired earlier in the day, members pointed out that Albanese, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights' special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, used "tortured logic" to argue about Israel and its right to attack Gaza.
"She tries to explain well, Hamas is a group, not a country," said Smith. "I've called for her firing, and there are so many others that need to be fired over at the United Nations for their explicit antisemitism."
Albanese argued on X this past Saturday that the concept of self-defense has a narrow definition under the UN's charter Article 51, reports The Washington Free Beacon.
Israel, she argued, does not have the right to self-defense against Hamas as its threat comes from an armed group that is in "occupied territory" and not from another country, meaning that under international law, Israel's "actions in Gaza cannot qualify as self-defense."
Smith said the purpose of the hearing was to discuss the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
"It's where so many children in Gaza and the West Bank and elsewhere are trained," said Smith, adding that the United States is the organization's largest donor and that President Joe Biden has "provided a billion dollars since he's taken office."
Former President Donald Trump, he added, "zeroed that out because they teach hate in their textbooks and their classrooms."
The congressional hearing was focused "very aggressively" on how the UN is a "haven for antisemitism, even at the Human Rights Council," said Smith.
Meanwhile, Biden has called for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities in Gaza, but Smith said the United States should let Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military command.
"We know that so-called ceasefires often lead to a realignment of the opposition and they entrench themselves further," said Smith. "Israel's going out of its way to mitigate the damage done to civilians. Nobody wants to see that happen. But it's Hamas, these terrorists are individuals who have been trained since they were very little, brought up in camps to hate Jews, and then when they get old enough, they manifested it by doing their terrorist acts."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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