US sanctions UN human rights official critical of Israel

The US has announced sanctions against the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who has condemned Israel’s war in Gaza.

In a post on X on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measure is a response to Albanese’s “illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt the International Criminal Court action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”

“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated. We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense,” Rubio added.

Albanese was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which US President Donald Trump has accused of bias and spreading anti-Semitism. In February, the White House announced that the US would no longer participate in the UNHRC, mirroring the stance taken during Trump’s first term in office.

Albanese has repeatedly labeled Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and urged countries to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the 2024 warrant issued by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC). Speaking at the UN earlier this month, she called on all states to impose a full arms embargo and suspend trade agreements with Israel.

“I stand firmly and convincingly on the side of justice, as I have always done,” Albanese wrote on X shortly after the sanctions announcement.

Neither the US nor Israel is a member of the ICC and both have firmly rejected the warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Last month, the US imposed sanctions on four ICC judges, including those who authorized the court to investigate the conduct of American troops in Afghanistan. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned the move as “deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice.”

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