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The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nation's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, alleging that Albanese is targeting U.S. and Israeli nationals for prosecution in the International Criminal Court.
Albanese, an Italian legal scholar and independent U.N. investigator for human rights in Gaza and the West Bank, has repeatedly criticized Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip. In a report published last month, Albanese called for the International Criminal Court to prosecute executives at American companies allegedly profiting from the war in Gaza.
In March last year, Albanese said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that Israel's conduct in Gaza met the specific legal definition of genocide. Both Israel and the U.S. have repeatedly denied any allegations of war crimes.
"Albanese has directly engaged with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, accusing her of "unabashed antisemitism."
In her first public remarks since the sanctions were announced, Albanese said on X: "Just to be sure, on this day more than ever: I stand firmly and convincingly on the side of justice, as I have always done. I come from a country with a tradition of illustrious legal scholars, talented lawyers and corageous judges who have defended justice at great cost and often with their own life. I intend to honor that tradition."
The U.N. Human Rights Council in New York did not immediately respond to a request for commenty.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israel's former defense minister who oversaw much of the war in Gaza, for alleged "crimes against humanity and war crimes."
Israel's government has maintained it is fighting a war of self-defense following the attacks on Israel by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people, most of them Israeli civilians. About 250 hostages were taken back to Gaza. More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
Albanese has long faced accusations from Israeli and U.S. officials over perceptions of anti-Israel bias. The Biden administration accused Albanese of antisemitism and suggested she is "unfit for her role." The Israeli government barred Albanese from entering Israel in February 2024.
The U.S. sanctions on Albanese come as the Trump administration has been lobbying Secretary General António Guterres to call for Albanese to be removed from her post. Like all U.N. special rapporteurs, Albanese does not fall under the jurisdiction of the U.N. secretary general, but rather the U.N. Human Rights Council, from which the United States withdrew in February.
The Trump administration also imposed sanctions on the ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in February over the ICC arrest warrants for top Israeli officials. As a result of the sanctions, Khan lost access to his email and bank accounts, slowing the work of the court, the Associated Press reported. Khan also risks arrest if he sets foot in the United States. Israel and the U.S. are not ICC members and claim the ICC does not have jurisdiction over Israelis or nonmember states.
"The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare, to check and prevent illegitimate ICC overreach and abuse of power, and to protect our sovereignty and that of our allies," Rubio said.
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