The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur investigating human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, intensifying a months-long effort to defend Israel from global criticism amid its 21-month military campaign in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Albanese had been added to the U.S. sanctions list, accusing the independent investigator of promoting "illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court." In a social media post, Rubio declared, "Albanese's campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated."
Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has become a polarizing figure for her outspoken denunciations of Israel's military operations and her support for ICC arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. Her July 1 report listed more than 60 companies, including U.S. defense and tech firms, as complicit in what she described as Israel's "occupation and war on Gaza."
"While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel's genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many," Albanese wrote.
The U.S. sanctions followed weeks of pressure on the U.N. to remove Albanese from her post-efforts that were rebuffed. It remains unclear how the sanctions will affect her ability to travel or conduct her work. Outside experts like Albanese do not represent the U.N. directly but report to the 47-member Human Rights Council.
Human rights groups and U.N. officials swiftly condemned the U.S. move. This "is actually all about silencing a U.N. expert for doing her job," said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. "The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely."
Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Washington to reverse course, stating, "Even in the face of fierce disagreement, U.N. Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures."
Mariana Katzarova, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, warned the sanctions could set a dangerous precedent. "This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same," she said. "It is an attack on U.N. system as a whole."
Albanese has consistently urged other countries to pressure Israel through economic sanctions and has publicly supported the ICC's war crimes cases. She has also described the Israeli campaign in Gaza as a "genocide," a claim both Israel and the United States have dismissed as baseless and offensive.
The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva called her latest report "legally groundless" and "a flagrant abuse of her office." Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said Albanese's "relentless and biased campaign against Israel and the United States has long crossed the line from human rights advocacy into political warfare."
The war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli government maintains that its actions are in response to the initial Hamas-led attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead and 251 taken hostage.
