Current and former United Nations staffers have spoken out in defence of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, after she faced attacks from a pro-Israeli NGO and several European government officials.

Albanese – who, like all special rapporteurs, is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but is not a UN staff member – has been subjected to repeated attacks from pro-Israeli figures and bodies, with one of the most fervent critics being UN Watch, a pro-Israel NGO.

The UN Watch, which is not a UN body, spread an edited clip of Albanese, 48, speaking at the Doha Forum earlier this month, in which the NGO falsely said she had called Israel “the common enemy of humanity”.

Albanese’s actual words were: “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.”