Benjamin Netanyahu nominates President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize
President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.
WASHINGTON – The US said on July 9 that it was imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Occupied Palestinian Territories, who was highly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Today, I am imposing sanctions on the UN Human Rights Council and for her shameful efforts to encourage (International Criminal Court) lawsuits against US and Israeli officials, businesses and executives,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
An Albanese spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Italian lawyer and academic Albanese is calling on the UN Human Rights Council states to cut off trade and financial ties with Israel, denounce the US allies running a “genocide campaign” in Gaza.
Israel faces genocide at the International Court of Justice and war crimes accusations at the ICC over a catastrophic military attack on Gaza. Israel denied the charges and said the campaign would be self-defense after the fatal Hamas attack in October 2023.
In a report released earlier this month, Albanese accused more than 60 companies, including major arms manufacturers and technology companies of being involved in supporting Israeli settlements and military operations in Gaza. The report sought businesses to halt their transactions with Israel and to provide legal accountability for executives related to alleged violations of international law.
Albanese is one of dozens of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations to report on specific themes and crises. The views expressed by the Special Rapporteur do not, as a whole, reflect those of the world’s body.
Rights experts have condemned US sanctions against Albanese. Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the International Policy Think Tank Centre, dubbed them “Rogue National Action,” but said Amnesty International would support the Special Rapporteur and would not be approved.
“All actors who believe in government and regulations-based order and international law around the world must do everything in their power to reduce the effectiveness of sanctions on Francesca Albanese and protect the work and independence of the Special Rapporteurs more generally,” said Amnesty International Executive Director Agnes Caramado, the former Special Rapporteur.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has stopped our involvement with the UN Human Rights Council, extended the halt of funding for Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, and ordered a review by the UNESCO Cultural Organization. He also announced his plan to leave the Paris climate contract and the World Health Organization.
His administration imposed sanctions on four judges at the ICC in June in retaliation for a war court of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and retaliation for his previous decision to open a lawsuit against the alleged war crimes of Afghanistan’s US military lawsuit.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Michelle Nichols, edited by Bhargav Acharya and Diane Craft)
