‘I’ve hit a nerve’: Francesca Albanese defiant in face of Trump sanctions
The United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, on Thursday said she is undeterred by sanctions imposed by the US on Wednesday.
“It looks like I've hit a nerve,” she told Middle East Eye’s live show.
“My concern is there are people dying in Gaza while you and I are speaking, and the United Nations are totally unable to intervene.”
The sanctions follow Albanese's scathing report on 30 June in which she named over 60 companies, including major US technology firms like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which she said were involved in "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide".
The report called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and national judicial systems to pursue investigations and prosecute corporate executives and companies. It also called on United Nations member states to pursue sanctions and asset freezes.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in a statement on Wednesday, accusing the special rapporteur of “illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt ICC action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives”.
'There are 193 members of the United Nations, and we are called the United Nations, not the United States'
- Francesca Albanese
Albanese is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war on Gaza, which she has labelled a genocide, and has backed international justice efforts over the past 20 months seeking to hold Israel accountable for its actions.
She is the latest target of US sanctions linked to the work of the ICC, which issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November. The chief prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan, and four ICC judges have also been sanctioned by Trump over investigations into the US and its ally, Israel.
Albanese has also backed South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Commenting on Rubio’s statement, she said that she is not personally taking legal action against Israel or the US, but that she has recommended legal measures in her capacity as a UN expert.
The US 'blowing up the system'
Asked what she expects from the UN, she said: “To behave like the United Nations and not like the United States of America.”
She accused the Trump administration of “blowing up the system that protects all of us” and of “eroding the foundation of the multilateral order”.
“There are 193 members of the United Nations, and we are called the United Nations, not the United States.”
At a press conference on Thursday, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said that "the imposition of sanctions on special rapporteurs is a dangerous precedent".
Meanwhile, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, called for reversing the sanctions against Albanese.
"I urge the prompt reversal of US sanctions against a special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese, in response to work she has undertaken under the mandate on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory," Turk said in a statement.
The sanctions announcement coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, DC, this week. Rubio and Netanyahu met on Wednesday.
In addition to her criticism of Israeli actions, Albanese has also levelled broadsides against the policies of Trump, particularly his plan announced in early February to "take over" the Gaza Strip and forcibly displace Palestinians.
The US, earlier this month, requested that the UN remove Albanese from her post.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
