Harvard is hosting UN Special Rapporteur who was just banned by Israel for justifying Hamas’ slaughter on October 7 – a month after Claudine Gay was forced to resign over failure to tackle anti-Semitism

Harvard University will host a UN special rapporteur who was banned from entering Israel after justifying the October 7 massacre of Hamas.

The embattled Ivy League, already embroiled in its own anti-Semitism row thanks to former president Claudine Gay, is hosting an online seminar to hear Francesca Albanese’s views on the current situation in Gaza.

The Italian-born Albanians, 47, reported this month that the 1,200 Israelis slaughtered by terrorists “were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression.”

She is now a featured speaker for Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy session called “A Conversation with Francesca Albanese.” It will take place online at 4 p.m. and the center’s faculty director, Mathias Risse, will also be present.

The description of the event on Harvard’s website reads: ‘Join us for a virtual conversation with the UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, as she discusses her perspective on the current situation in the Gaza region, as well as her experiences with working to protect Palestinian refugees and migrants. .’

According to the Times of Israel, Francesca Albanese has been officially banned from entering the country. The Ministry of the Interior refused to grant her a visa.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said in a statement: “The era of the silence of the Jews is over.

‘If the UN wants to become a relevant body again, its leaders must publicly disavow the anti-Semitic words of the ‘Special Envoy’ – and dismiss her permanently.

“Preventing her from entering Israel could remind her of the real reason why Hamas slaughtered babies, women and adults.”

This weekend, Albanians on

She wrote in French: ‘The ‘greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century’? No, Mr. @EmmanuelMacron. The victims of 10/7 were not murdered because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression.’

A bipartisan group of members of Congress last year called on the UN to remove the Albanians. The group wrote: “Ms. The Albanians have repeatedly refused to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis while continuing their condemnation of Israel.

According to the Times of Israel, Francesca Albanese has been officially banned from entering the country. The Ministry of the Interior refused to grant her a visa

“For an official tasked with serving as an independent, neutral and expert voice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her inexcusable silence against terrorism targeting Israelis and her outrageous and biased comments clearly reflect the irreparable bias of her mandate.”

Just days ago, the Israeli military said it had discovered tunnels under the headquarters of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, claiming that Hamas militants were using the space as an electricity supply.

The unveiling of the tunnels marked the latest chapter in Israel’s campaign against the controversial agency, which is accused of collaborating with Hamas.

Recent Israeli allegations that a dozen staff took part in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel have plunged the agency into a financial crisis, prompting major donor countries to suspend their funding and their duplicative investigations.

The agency says Israel has also frozen its bank account, embargoed aid shipments and withdrawn its tax benefits.

The military invited journalists to tour the tunnel on Thursday, a visit that did not definitively prove that Hamas militants were operating in the tunnels beneath the UNWRA facility but did show that at least part of the tunnel ran under the facility’s courtyard .

Claudine Gay, 53, resigned in January after months of questions about her leadership.

She will remain a member of the university staff and return to a teaching position in the political science department, while maintaining a comparable salary.

Gay, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, became the first black person to lead Harvard when she took over as president on July 1.

On December 10, as she faced criticism for her testimony in Congress about anti-Semitism on campus, conservative activist Christopher Rufo published allegations in his newsletter that she had plagiarized parts of her 1997 dissertation.

Republican lawmaker Elise Stefanik criticized the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn over anti-Semitism, and led calls for Gay’s resignation based on her refusal to categorize calls for genocide of Jews as harassment.

The House has since launched an investigation that will also look into a litany of plagiarism allegations against Gay, spanning 24 years.