{"id":53218,"date":"2025-07-10T04:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T04:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/53218\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T04:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T04:45:17","slug":"us-sanctions-un-investigator-francesca-albanese-for-her-stance-on-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/53218\/","title":{"rendered":"US sanctions UN investigator Francesca Albanese for her stance on Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is issuing sanctions against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel\u2019s 21-month war in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The State Department\u2019s decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, follows an unsuccessful U.S. pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post. It also comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington<\/a> this week to meet with President Donald Trump and other officials about the war in Gaza and more.<\/p>\n

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\"United<\/p>\n

United States\u2019 Ambassador and deputy representative to the United Nations Dorothy Camille Shea speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations Headquarters, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n

United States\u2019 Ambassador and deputy representative to the United Nations Dorothy Camille Shea speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations Headquarters, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s unclear what the practical impact the sanctions will have and whether the independent investigator will be able to travel to the U.S. with diplomatic paperwork.<\/p>\n

Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has been vocal about what she has described as the \u201cgenocide\u201d by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza<\/a>. Both Israel and the U.S., which provides military support to its close ally, have strongly denied that accusation. <\/p>\n

The U.S. had not previously addressed concerns with Albanese head-on because it has not participated in either of the two Human Rights Council sessions this year, including the summer session that ended Tuesday. This is because the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Albanese has urged countries to pressure Israel<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Albanese has issued a series of letters urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. <\/p>\n

She has also been a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court\u2019s arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, for allegations of war crimes. She most recently issued a report naming several large U.S. companies as among those aiding what she described as Israel\u2019s occupation and war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbanese\u2019s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media. \u201cWe will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Secretary<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an event to promote President Donald Trump\u2019s domestic policy and budget agenda in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an event to promote President Donald Trump\u2019s domestic policy and budget agenda in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n

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Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. government\u2019s decision to sanction Albanese for seeking justice through the ICC \u201cis actually all about silencing a U.N. expert for doing her job \u2014 speaking truth about Israeli violations against Palestinians and calling on governments and corporations not to be complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely,\u201d Evenson said in a statement. \u201cU.N. and ICC member countries should strongly resist the U.S. government\u2019s shameless efforts to block justice for the world\u2019s worst crimes and condemn the outrageous sanctions on Albanese.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albanese\u2019s July 1 report focuses on Western defense companies that have provided weapons used by Israel\u2019s military, as well as manufacturers of earth-moving equipment that have bulldozed Palestinian homes and property.<\/p>\n

It cites activities by companies in the shipping, real estate, technology<\/a>, banking and finance and online travel industries, as well as academia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel\u2019s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many,\u201d her report said.<\/p>\n

A request for comment from the U.N.\u2019s top human rights body was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n

Israel strongly refutes Albanese\u2019s allegations<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s diplomatic mission in Geneva, where the 47-member Human Rights Council is based, called Albanese\u2019s report \u201clegally groundless, defamatory, and a flagrant abuse of her office\u201d and having \u201cwhitewashed Hamas atrocities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside experts, such as Albanese, do not represent the United Nations and have no formal authority. However, they report to the council as a means of monitoring countries\u2019 human rights records.<\/p>\n

Albanese has faced criticism from pro-Israel officials and groups in the U.S. and in the Middle East. The U.S. mission to the U.N. issued a scathing statement last week, calling for her removal for \u201ca years-long pattern of virulent anti-Semitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement said Albanese\u2019s allegations of Israel committing genocide<\/a> or apartheid are \u201cfalse and offensive.\u201d <\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, celebrated the U.S. action, saying in a statement Wednesday that Albanese\u2019s \u201crelentless and biased campaign against Israel and the United States has long crossed the line from human rights advocacy into political warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump administration\u2019s campaign to quiet criticism of Israel<\/p>\n

It is a culmination of a nearly six-month campaign by the Trump administration to quell criticism of Israel\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza. Earlier this year, the administration began arresting and trying to deport faculty and students<\/a> of U.S. universities who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other political activities.<\/p>\n

The war between Israel and Hamas began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people captive. Israel\u2019s retaliatory campaign has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead but does not specify how many were fighters or civilians.<\/p>\n

Nearly 21 months into the conflict that displaced the vast majority of Gaza\u2019s 2.3 million people, it is nearly impossible for the critically wounded to get the care they need, doctors and aid workers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Albanese said in a recent post on X. \u201cNo one is safe until everyone is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is issuing sanctions against an independent investigator…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[97,372,39655,69,90,39654,4526,57,18890,51,118,4228,99,3462,373,39656,410,3463,50,9598,80,16816,52,4529,61,1206,67,370,96,93,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-53218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","10":"tag-danny-danon","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-francesca-albanese-gaza","14":"tag-gaza-strip","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-genocide","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-human-rights","19":"tag-indictments","20":"tag-israel","21":"tag-israel-government","22":"tag-israel-hamas-war","23":"tag-liz-evenson","24":"tag-marco-rubio","25":"tag-mideast-wars","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-palestinian-territories-government","28":"tag-politics","29":"tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","30":"tag-top-stories","31":"tag-u-s-department-of-state","32":"tag-u-s-news","33":"tag-united-nations","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-united-states-government","36":"tag-war-and-unrest","37":"tag-washington-news","38":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}