Francesca Albanese, the controversial United Nations special rapporteur covering the Palestinian territories, argued on Tuesday in remarks made on Parliament Hill that Israeli soldiers had been turned into “wilful executioners of an extermination plan.”

Albanese, an Italian lawyer condemned by critics as antisemitic, is on a speaking tour of North America. She argued at an Ottawa news conference that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, saying that the military campaign against Hamas is connected with a violent history that predates the establishment of the Jewish state.