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UN report targeting Israel sparks backlash, author accused of overstepping her mandate
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A United Nations report targeting Israel and companies that operate within the country entitled “Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide” is sparking backlash and concern.
The report was authored and presented by U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, a controversial figure who has been condemned by multiple nations for making allegedly antisemitic remarks. In her latest report, she calls for sanctions against “entities and individuals involved in activities that may endanger the Palestinians.”
UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. (Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS )
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NGO Monitor Legal Advisor Anne Herzberg said that while it’s not surprising that Albanese would issue a scathing report on Israel, as she has done so many times in the past, this latest report was unique.
“I think that the difference now is that this report explicitly endorses adopting BDS — boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel — in a very overt way,” Herzberg told Fox News Digital. She added that even though Albanese is an independent investigator, the report could be interpreted as the U.N. supporting the BDS movement against Israel.
In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said “special procedures experts,” like Albanese “work on a voluntary basis,” do not receive a salary and are not U.N. staff.
“While the U.N. Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for special procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the U.N.,” OHCHR’s media team told Fox News Digital. “Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.N. or OHCHR.”
Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 26, 2025. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)
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Herzog told Fox News Digital that not only did Albanese overstep the boundaries of her role, but so did the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC), as it does not have the authority to issue sanctions, something the report recommends.
“The U.N. Human Rights Council, which is where she presented her report, and that’s under whose auspices she is working, does not have the power under the U.N. charter to issue sanctions,” Herzog said. “And so not only has she overstepped her mandate as a rapporteur, the U.N. Human Rights Council by endorsing this, not endorsing the report, but by allowing this report to be published.”
Herzog said she saw “threatening and harassing” letters that Albanese sent to companies and NGOs “basically threatening them with being included on her boycott list and claiming that they were complicit in international crimes like genocide, apartheid, blocking self-determination or Palestinians.”
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, on Dec. 11, 2024. (REUTERS/Pierre Albouy)
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The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is a voluntary code that companies can sign on to as a pledge to be mindful of how their operations run and their customers are treated. Herzog argued that Albanese “weaponizes this voluntary positive, pluralistic framework” and that she does so improperly, making it a “binding punitive framework.”
“Not only is she distorting international law, she’s distorting this UNGP framework, and I suspect that if this type of activity of hers gains purchase or other people start following in her footsteps, she’s going to be responsible for basically destroying the whole area of business and human rights.”
Albanese presented her report to the UNHRC on Thursday, just two days after the U.S. called for her removal over her “years-long pattern of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.”
In the report, Albanese claims that corporations have aided Israel in “its ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza.” She repeated this claim at UNHRC on Thursday, charging Israel with being “responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history.” She also accused Israel of using the war in Gaza as a testing ground for new weapons “to exterminate a people without restraint.”
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Daniel Meron, who was not present at the UNHRC meeting, told Fox News Digital that through her report 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,” Meron told Fox News Digital. “Her obsession with demonizing Israel is clear in the narrative she pushes.”
Albanese did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions or request for comment in time for publication.
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One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded an alarm this week over the regime’s uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been allowed to visit the secret site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.
The highly fortified facility is casting serious doubt on Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached with the Trump administration. The United States, together with Israel, launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, 2026, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argue that halting work at Pickaxe Mountain and allowing IAEA inspectors access would be a key good-faith measure to test whether Iran is prepared to abandon its pattern of deception.
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A satellite image shows an overview of the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex in Natanz. (Vantor/Handout via Reuters)
Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: “Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant.”
Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.
Faragasso added, “If Iran is serious about negotiating, it should halt construction at Pickaxe Mountain as a token of good faith. But what can be expected from a regime as brutal and conniving as Iran’s?”
The institute posted a detailed analysis of new satellite imagery from late June 2026 showing continued activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
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Vice President JD Vance prior to a meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Bürgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)
The institute wrote that “at Pickaxe Mountain, vehicle activity can be seen on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing. The MOU signed between the United States and Iran requires that Iran maintain the status quo, which should prohibit construction at any nuclear-related facility, including Pickaxe Mountain.”
In late June, the IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital query on whether it would seek access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility. According to the satellite imagery obtained by the institute, “at Natanz, little activity can be seen. The access points to the below-ground enrichment halls have not been repaired.
“The personnel entrances remain destroyed, and vehicle entrances remain severely damaged. A single vehicle can be seen on the road outside of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which was destroyed in June 2025 but was later covered by Iran.”
As U.S.-Iran talks opened Sunday in Switzerland, and a dispute over who controls and monitors billions of dollars in potentially unfrozen Iranian assets emerged. (Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)
The institute also reported, “As of June 29, 2026, there is no observed activity at Esfahan. The tunnel portals remain backfilled with dirt.” ISIS tracked developments at the Fordow site, buried inside a mountain north of the holy Islamic city of Qom.
“At Fordow, as earlier reported by the Institute, between May 10 and May 18, Iran added passive defensive measures in the form of earthen/rocky mounds and other objects on the roads leading to the tunnel entrances. The alternating placements of the piles/objects are very precise, which creates a series of chicanes, indicating they are not intended as obstructions but rather to prevent rapid ingress and egress by any vehicle toward the tunnels.”
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The institute added, “The June 21 Vantor image shows that the objects along the road remain there. The tunnel portals also remain backfilled with dirt” at Fordow.
Fox News Digital sent questions to the State Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.
Published On 6 Jul 2026
The funeral procession for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has begun in Tehran as authorities prepare for crowds that could rival those that turned out for his predecessor nearly four decades ago.
After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, the body of Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the United States-Israel war on Iran, began its journey on Monday through the capital, accompanied by large crowds of mourners, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Crowd surges during Khomeini’s funeral killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.
Thousands filled the Grand Mosalla on Sunday to pay their respects to Khamenei and his four family members who were killed with him on February 28 in air strikes on his office in Tehran.
Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
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