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Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, has responded to news that she will be sanctioned by the Trump administration with a post on X saying “the powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt”.
On Wednesday, as part of its effort to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza, the state department sanctioned Albanese, an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.
In two posts on Thursday, she wrote “Let’s stand tall, together” and urged international observers to focus on the crisis inside Gaza.
“All eyes must remain on Gaza, where children are dying of starvation in their mothers’ arms, while their fathers and siblings are bombed into pieces while searching for food,” she wrote.
She also spoke to the Middle East Eye’s live show saying: “It looks like I’ve hit a nerve.
“My concern is there are people dying in Gaza while you and I are speaking, and the United Nations are totally unable to intervene.”
Albanese, a human rights lawyer, has been vocal in calling for an end to what she describes as the “genocide” that Israel is waging against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel and the US, which provides military support, have both strongly denied that accusation.
Israel has faced accusations of genocide at the international court of justice and of war crimes at the international criminal court (ICC) over its devastating military assault on Gaza.
The sanctions on Albanese set a dangerous precedent, said the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, António Guterres, adding that the special rapporteurs did not report to Guterres and he had no authority over them.
Jürg Lauber, the UN human rights council president, said he regretted Washington’s decision and called on all UN member states “to fully cooperate with the special rapporteurs and mandate holders of the council and to refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal against them”.
The UN rights chief, Volker Türk, called for a halt to “attacks and threats” against people appointed by the UN and other international institutions such as the ICC, whose judges have also been hit with US sanctions.
In recent weeks, Albanese has issued a series of letters urging other countries to put pressure on Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The Italian national has also been a strong supporter of the ICC’s indictment of Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes. She most recently issued a report naming several US companies among those aiding what she described as Israel’s occupation and war on Gaza.
On Wednesday the US secretary of state said on social media: “Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated.
“We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defence,” Marco Rubio wrote.
He announced Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work that had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the ICC.
Albanese has been the target of criticism from pro-Israel officials and groups in the US and in the Middle East. Last week, the US mission to the UN issued a scathing statement calling for her removal for “a years-long pattern of virulent antisemitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias”.
The statement said Albanese’s allegations of Israel committing genocide or apartheid were “false and offensive”.
The US sanctions are the culmination of an extraordinary and sprawling campaign of nearly six months by the Trump administration to quell criticism of Israel’s handling of the deadly war in Gaza. Earlier this year, the Trump administration began arresting and deporting faculty and students of American universities who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other political activities.
