Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Francesca Albanese of “political warfare”
The US has introduced sanctions towards the UN particular rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who has condemned Israel’s warfare in Gaza.
In a put up on X on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned the measure is a response to Albanese’s “illegitimate and shameful efforts to immediate the Worldwide Felony Courtroom motion towards US and Israeli officers, corporations, and executives.”
“Albanese’s marketing campaign of political and financial warfare towards the USA and Israel will now not be tolerated. We’ll all the time stand by our companions of their proper to self-defense,” Rubio added.
Albanese was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which US President Donald Trump has accused of bias and spreading anti-Semitism. In February, the White Home introduced that the US would now not take part within the UNHRC, mirroring the stance taken throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace.
At the moment I’m imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Particular Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to immediate @IntlCrimCourt motion towards U.S. and Israeli officers, corporations, and executives. Albanese’s marketing campaign of political and financial…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 9, 2025
Albanese has repeatedly labeled Israel’s warfare in Gaza a “genocide” and urged nations to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the 2024 warrant issued by the Hague-based Worldwide Felony Courtroom (ICC). Talking on the UN earlier this month, she referred to as on all states to impose a full arms embargo and droop commerce agreements with Israel.
“I stand firmly and convincingly on the aspect of justice, as I’ve all the time accomplished,” Albanese wrote on X shortly after the sanctions announcement.
Neither the US nor Israel is a member of the ICC and each have firmly rejected the warrants towards Netanyahu and former Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant.
Final month, the US imposed sanctions on 4 ICC judges, together with those that approved the court docket to analyze the conduct of American troops in Afghanistan. UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned the transfer as “deeply corrosive of fine governance and the due administration of justice.”
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