The Trump administration has announced sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, amid ongoing tensions surrounding Israel’s military conflict in Gaza. This action represents the latest effort by the United States to penalize those who critique Israel’s actions during the 21-month-long war.
The State Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Albanese follows an unsuccessful campaign by the U.S. to remove her from her post, coinciding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington for meetings with President Donald Trump and other officials to discuss the war in Gaza.
The implications of the sanctions for Albanese’s ability to travel to the U.S. or maintain her position within the UN are currently unclear. As an Italian human rights lawyer, Albanese has been outspoken in labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocidal. The accusations made by her have been vehemently denied by both Israel and the U.S., the latter of which provides substantial military support to Israel.
Despite previous reluctance to confront Albanese directly, the U.S. has maintained its withdrawal from the Human Rights Council sessions this year, including the recently concluded summer session.
In her recent efforts, Albanese has called on various nations to exert pressure on Israel, advocating for sanctions to halt its military aggression against Gaza. She has also supported the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, for potential war crimes, and has identified numerous large U.S. corporations as complicit in what she describes as Israel’s occupation and assaults on Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized Albanese’s actions on social media, asserting that her campaign against the U.S. and Israel goes beyond acceptable discourse and constitutes a form of political warfare that will not be tolerated.
Human Rights Watch’s international justice director, Liz Evenson, denounced the sanctions, suggesting they are designed to silence an independent expert performing her duties by shedding light on Israeli actions against Palestinians.
Evenson emphasized that the U.S. government’s move undermines essential international norms and institutions meant to support victims of severe human rights violations.
Albanese’s warning highlights the complicity of numerous Western defense companies that supply arms used by the Israeli military, along with companies involved in various sectors such as real estate and finance that allegedly benefit from Israel’s military operations.
Her report firmly states that the continuing violence in Gaza is driven by profit-making motives from several international entities, stating, “this report shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many.”
A request for commentary from the U.N.’s primary human rights organization did not receive an immediate response.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva condemned Albanese’s report, labeling it as legally unsound and an abuse of her position, alleging it also downplays acts of violence committed by Hamas.
While independent experts like Albanese have no official authority within the UN, they provide valuable monitoring of human rights situations in various countries to the council.
She has endured backlash from pro-Israel factions in both the U.S. and the Middle East, with the U.S. mission to the U.N. sharply criticizing her public statements and calling for her removal.
The U.S.’s statement accused Albanese of fostering anti-Semitism and a persistent bias against Israel, claiming her allegations of genocide and apartheid are unfounded and inflammatory.
In a statement celebrating the U.S. sanctions, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, argued that Albanese’s actions have crossed the boundary from human rights advocacy into political warfare against both Israel and the United States.
These developments signify the culmination of six months of U.S. efforts to silence criticism of Israel’s military responses to Hamas, especially following Hamas’s assault on Israel that commenced on October 7, 2023.
That initial attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals, primarily civilians, along with 251 hostages being taken.
In response, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has led to reported fatalities exceeding 57,000 Palestinians, though the Gaza Health Ministry notes that many victims were women and children without clarifying how many were combatants versus civilians.
The ongoing war has resulted in grave humanitarian crises, with aid organizations highlighting the desperation for medical assistance that the critically injured in Gaza are facing.
In a recent statement, Albanese urged for an end to what she describes as genocide, stating, “We must stop this genocide, whose short-term goal is completing the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, while also profiteering from the killing machine devised to perform it.
No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
image source from：npr
