U.S. sanctions UN human rights expert over criticism of Israel
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The U.S. imposed sanctions on a United Nations expert investigating human rights conditions in the Palestinian territories, escalating a feud after earlier calling for her ouster over allegations of anti-Israel bias.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, were in response to her “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel.”
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“The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies,” Rubio wrote in a social media post.
Last month, Albanese’s office issued a report that called out U.S. companies including Google parent Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Palantir Technologies Inc. for their involvement in Israel’s economy given allegations of apartheid, war crimes and genocide in its treatment of the Palestinian territories and response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
“Any decision to continue engagement in Israel’s economy is therefore done with knowledge of the crimes that may be taking place, and of the fact that they may provide material support to Israel to continue to commit those crimes,” the report said.
In an earlier statement, the U.S. Mission to the UN had called for Albanese’s ouster and urged Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to condemn her activities. It also called the rapporteur’s allegations of genocide and apartheid against Israel “false and offensive.”
Special rapporteurs do not fall under the Secretary-General’s jurisdiction as they are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. The U.S. withdrew from the body in February.
Albanese, who was appointed to her role in 2022, is a staunch critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. Her statements have sparked controversy, including a social media post last year that said victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack were killed because of “Israel’s oppression.”
The U.S. Mission denounced the Human Rights Council in April after Albanese was appointed to to a fresh three-year term, accusing the UN of tolerating “antisemitic hatred, bias against Israel, and the legitimization of terrorism.”
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