{"id":251773,"date":"2025-07-09T21:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T21:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251773\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T21:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T21:32:10","slug":"us-sanctions-un-expert-francesca-albanese-critic-of-israels-gaza-offensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251773\/","title":{"rendered":"US sanctions UN expert Francesca Albanese, critic of Israel’s Gaza offensive"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is the latest escalation by the Trump administration as it wages a campaign against the ICC, having already sanctioned four its judges after the court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, accusations they reject. <\/p>\n

Mr Rubio also accused Ms Albanese of having “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West”.<\/p>\n

The move is likely to provoke a fierce backlash from those who argue for accountability over the civilian death toll from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. <\/p>\n

The special rapporteur has long argued that Western governments are not doing enough to support the rights of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, and with her outspoken stance has attracted significant support among those who accuse Israeli and US leaders of weaponising accusations of antisemitism in order to silence criticism of their policies. <\/p>\n

Rubio also said Ms Albanese showed contempt for the US by writing “threatening letters” to several US companies, making what he called unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue prosecutions of the companies and their executives.<\/p>\n

“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month Ms Albanese called on dozens of multinational companies<\/a> to stop doing business with Israel, warning them they risk being complicit in war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

She said the companies “profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide” in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel rejected her report as “groundless”, saying it would “join the dustbin of history”.<\/p>\n

Ms Albanese has criticised Donald Trump’s plan, announced in February, to take over the Gaza Strip and displace its residents elsewhere.<\/p>\n

“It’s unlawful, immoral and… completely irresponsible because it will make the regional crisis even worse,” she said in February.<\/p>\n

The timing of the sanctions announcement is notable with Netanyahu currently in Washington, where he on Wednesday received an extended honour cordon at the Pentagon. <\/p>\n

Ms Albanese has previously rejected similar claims against her, telling the BBC in October: “I don’t take these remarks and the defamation they carry lightly, but at the same time, I know this is not about me, as my predecessors knew that it was not about them. <\/p>\n

“I also know these member states [making accusations of antisemitism] have done absolutely nothing to abide by international law.” <\/p>\n

Her office has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is the latest escalation by the Trump administration as it wages a campaign against the ICC, having…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-251773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114825419132436349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}