U.S. representatives to the United Nations slammed Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories who has faced repeated accusations of antisemitism, and said at a hearing on Wednesday that the next U.N. secretary-general will be faced with a choice of whether to turn the page on the institution’s antisemitic and anti-Israel bias.

Jeff Bartos, the U.S. representative to the U.N. for management and reform, said before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the U.N. is “really at a crossroads” — saying it does important humanitarian work but also “employs a lunatic like Francesca Albanese, an absolute lunatic.”

“She puts on that U.N. uniform, and it’s such a disservice to the brave humanitarians who are out in the field risking their lives for total strangers,” Bartos said. “It does such a disservice to the brand of the U.N. It is the greatest self-sabotage, as a businessman, I’ve ever seen in my business career, that the U.N. allows its brand to be soiled and spoiled by this bigot.”

He said that the U.S. wants to see the next secretary-general, after Secretary-General António Guterres steps down in December, take a different approach, and that the U.S. is trying to “guide” the U.N. “in the right direction.”

“The U.N. has a decision to make with a new secretary-general coming in,” Bartos said. “Are they going to continue to tolerate this hatred of America and the West and Jews and Israel? Are they going to move in a new direction? We are not only watching it closely, we have a great team that works on it every day, and rest assured that we are going to hold them accountable.”

Jeff Bartos (@AmbUNReform), the U.S. representative to the U.N. for management and reform, said before a House committee that the U.N. is “really at a crossroads” — saying it does important humanitarian work but also “employs a lunatic like Francesca Albanese, an absolute… pic.twitter.com/Ka6DJSlfp1

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 23, 2026

He said that the U.N. must pick a secretary-general with “leadership, the moral clarity and the courage to tackle this,” calling it an “existential issue for the organization about whether it wants to be a hotbed of hatred for the one Jewish state and for the West, or whether it wants to get back to basics, its core founding mission of international peace and security and humanitarian aid.”

Both Bartos and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz condemned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the U.N. system’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Bartos said that UNRWA has “no future” in Gaza, highlighting recent comments he made at an UNRWA conference urging other countries not to keep putting money into the agency.

“What was different this year … was the acting director of UNRWA actually agreed to a couple of the points we raised,” Bartos said. “I almost fell over in my chair. Are we making progress? Glacially, but we are making progress.”

Waltz said that the U.S. is working with various partners, including the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza technocratic government under the auspices of the Board of Peace, as well as countries like Morocco and the United Arab Emirates to reform anti-Israel and pro-terrorism curricula promulgated by UNRWA  in Gaza and to see that governmental institutions take over responsibilities like education.

Bartos described legislation led by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) aimed at dismantling and replacing UNRWA as “terrific” and said that the State Department would support it.

Asked about Turkey’s relationship with Hamas and other activities at odds with U.S. interests, Waltz described Turkey as an ally, if a sometimes “difficult” one, and emphasized that the U.S. is working with the Turkish government to take action against Hamas-supporting charities operating in Turkey.

Waltz also said that the U.S. has stripped taxpayer funding from the U.N. organizations like UNRWA that have been particularly involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel bias, as it works to try to repair and reform them.

Waltz indicated that, in spite of the collapse of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, U.S. technical negotiators remain engaged in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. He noted that the regime is still trying to reconstitute its nuclear program and maintains its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

Waltz also said that the U.S. and other parties are still negotiating what will replace the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which is set to shut down. Some partners and the U.N. have urged replacing it with a similar body, in spite of UNIFIL’s longstanding failures.

Pushing back on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Waltz said during the hearing that Mamdani does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — as Mamdani acknowledged this week.

He questioned why Mamdani has not threatened action against malign actors like officials from Iran or North Korea and condemned efforts by a Mamdani administration official to meet with Iranian government representatives.

“On the eve of Tisha B’Av, it’s fundamentally offensive that the mayor is spending any of his time on this issue,” Bartos added.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), in a blistering statement, accused the U.N.’s special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, of antisemitism and said that her activity has undermined the United Nations and eroded U.S. support for the U.N. and foreign aid in general and will contribute to deaths around the world.

The statement comes in response to a letter from Albanese, who has faced ongoing accusations of antisemitism from U.S. officials and lawmakers who have described her as unfit for her role, to Israel Bonds, accusing the group of involvement in crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

“Only for a demonstrated antisemite like Ms. Albanese could stabilizing Israel’s economy after the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust be something negative,” Sherman said. “This is just the latest instance in Ms. Albanese’s long history of antisemitism – she has regularly used antisemitic terms like the ‘Jewish lobby’ and claims that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself or even to exist.”

He said that, “Albanese and her ilk have turned once-legitimate entities like the United Nations into kangaroo courts and clown shows, significantly undermining U.S. support for the funding of international institutions and foreign aid.”

Sherman argued that actions by officials like Albanese make it harder for U.S. supporters of foreign aid to fight the Trump administration’s cuts to U.S. foreign development assistance and to support funding to international organizations. He drew a connection between Albanese and the antisemitism at the U.N. and what he said were 3.3 million anticipated deaths as a result of cuts to U.S. foreign aid.

“There’s a substantial amount of blood on her hands – but her victims live in countries that she doesn’t care about,” Sherman continued. “In fact, it seems the only thing she cares about is justifying attacks on Israel and Jews worldwide.”

Sherman also argued that the goal of Albanese and others in the anti-Israel movement is to weaken Israel economically and militarily so that future terrorist attacks can successfully eliminate the Jewish state.

“Believe that the anti-Israel movement means it when they say they want to eradicate Israel and will use any means to do it,” Sherman said. “Ms. Albanese condemns, and seeks to prevent, every effort of the Israeli government to feed and house its poorest citizens and care for the disabled. Due to her blinding rage of antisemitism, she seeks to hurt the most vulnerable.”

Albanese, in her letter to Israel Bonds, formally known as the Development Corporation for Israel, alleged that the group is responsible for a host of crimes against humanity and human rights violations, and suggested it faces international criminal liability.

“The applicable legal framework and the gravity of the situation on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza, indicate that there are reasonable grounds to believe that DCI is contributing to gross human rights violations that require the immediate cessation of the concerned business activity, and the remedy of the harm done to Palestinians,” Albanese wrote in the letter, which was obtained by JI.

“The continued failure to act responsibly in line with international law risks implicating DCI in an economy of much more serious violations, and increasing the associated liability. Indeed, given the international crimes being considered by the [International Court of Justice] and the [International Criminal Court], DCI is now on notice of a serious risk of being implicated in international crimes, the disregard of which may give rise to criminal liability, both for DCI and its executives,” she continued.

Dani Naveh, the CEO of Israel Bonds, said in a statement, “We will not be deterred by our enemies driven by antisemitism. Hamas, which carried out the atrocities of October 7, and its supporters, will not prevail. Their efforts have failed time and time again, as evidenced by the billions of dollars Israel Bonds has raised globally since the horrific attacks of October 7, 2023,” and called on supporters of Israel to respond by buying more bonds.