UN official withdraws from Montreal conference featuring Canadian leader of Samidoun terror group

United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has withdrawn from a Montreal conference featuring Charlotte Kates, the founder of Samidoun, a designated terror group.

An updated list of individuals participating in the inaugural “Coordinating Council 4 Palestine” conference on Nov. 1 and 2 has removed Albanese’s name as the keynote speaker on Saturday evening after Jewish leaders decried her plan to speak at the event. There have also been calls for her to be barred from Canada because her remarks, including comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, have been deemed to be antisemitic.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said Albanese should be ousted from her position over her initial willingness to speak at a conference featuring the leader of a designated terrorist group.

“Earlier this week, we raised serious concerns about Francesca Albanese’s visit to Canada, given her history of troubling statements and associations with individuals who glorify violence against Israelis and incite hatred toward Jews,” CIJA general counsel Richard Marceau told National Post in an email following the news.

The Canadian Jewish group called on other institutions, including the University of Toronto, which is set to host Albanese for a talk about international law and genocide next week, to withdraw their invitations.

“We now urge any institutions hosting Francesca Albanese to sever ties with her and end any partnerships that lend legitimacy to someone whom G7 leaders, including those from the United States, France, and Germany, have called to be removed from her UN position,” Marceau said.

Kates, who is based in Vancouver, is a leader of Samidoun, a group Canadian and U.S. authorities designated a terror entity in October due to its ties to another terror group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Her husband, Khaled Barakat, is a senior member of PFLP. Kates has previously celebrated Hamas’s October 7 massacre and led anti-Israel rallies in Canada. She took part in a panel in Montreal on Friday about “Criminalizing Dissent.”