Both the French-speaking Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCJOB) and the Dutch-speaking Forum of Jewish Organizations (FJO) condemned the decision by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) to award Francesca Albanese an honorary doctorate.
VUB, which is a top-ranked Belgian institution, announced the move along with the University of Antwerp and Ghent University.
To many of her critics, Albanese represents the nexus of antisemitism and Israel hatred, which has made European universities hotbeds of Jew-hatred, especially after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The honorary doctorate recognizes the “exceptional commitment to the protection of human rights and the strengthening of international law” by Albanese, who was appointed in 2022 as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the three universities wrote in a statement.
FJO wrote, “Her repeated comparisons of Israel to the Nazis are perceived as Holocaust trivialization and antisemitic under the IHRA definition, and the U.S. government also labels it as such. This sends the wrong message to students and is in no way an example of academic integrity or ethics.”
CCJOB announced that it was joining FJO’s call on the university to revoke the honor.
Albanese has long faced allegations of antisemitism, which she has denied.
The American government, under U.S. President Donald Trump, sanctioned Albanese in early July after she sent letters to American entities accusing them of complicity in alleged Israeli crimes and recommending that the International Criminal Court in The Hague investigate them.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last July that “Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”
