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President of the United States, Donald Trump, has ordered sanctions against United Nations expert Francesca Albanese over her documentation of Israel’s violations against Palestinians during its war on Gaza.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the penalties, condemning Albanese for what he called waging a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel.”
Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, has been a leading global voice calling for action to stop Israel’s human rights violations. Israel and its supporters have been rebuking Albanese and calling for her removal from her UN position for years.
Albanese dismissed the U.S. sanctions, saying she remains focused on her work.
“No comment on mafia-style intimidation techniques,” the UN expert wrote in a text message. “Busy reminding member states of their obligations to stop and punish genocide—and those who profit from it.”
On Tuesday, she criticised European governments for allowing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza—to use their airspace while travelling.
Albanese posted on social media:
“Italian, French, and Greek citizens deserve to know that every political action violating the [international] legal order weakens and endangers all of them. And all of us.”
Rubio said Albanese’s call for the trial of Israeli officials at the ICC was the legal basis for the sanctions.
Trump had issued an executive order in February to impose penalties on ICC officials involved in “targeting” Israel. Rubio also accused Albanese of anti-Semitism.
“That bias has been apparent across the span of her career, including recommending that the ICC—without a legitimate basis—issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,” he said.
The ICC charged Netanyahu and Gallant with crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza for depriving Palestinians in the territory of “objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine.”
Rubio also cited a recent report by Albanese that documented the role of international firms, including U.S. companies, in what she described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” the top U.S. diplomat said.
Trump’s ICC decree freezes the assets of targeted individuals in the U.S. and prohibits them and their immediate family members from entering the country.
Nancy Okail, head of the Center for International Policy (CIP), decried the sanctions against Albanese as “devastating.”
“Sanctioning a UN expert gives the signal that the United States is acting like dictatorships,” Okail told reporters.
Agnes Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, said she was “dismayed” by the U.S. move.
“We recall that Special Rapporteurs are independent experts. They are not appointed to please governments or to be popular, but to deliver their mandate,” she wrote on X.
“Albanese is working tirelessly to document and report on Israel’s unlawful occupation, apartheid, and genocide, on the basis of international law,” Callamard added. She urged governments around the world to do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effects of the sanctions and protect the independence of special rapporteurs.
Over the past 21 months, Israel’s U.S.-backed military action in Gaza has levelled most of the territory and killed at least 57,575 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
