On July 9, 2025, the Trump administration took a decisive step by imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories. This move marks the latest chapter in a nearly six-month campaign aimed at silencing critics of Israel’s prolonged and devastating war in Gaza, which has now stretched over 21 months.
Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer appointed in 2022, has emerged as one of the most vocal and persistent UN officials condemning Israel’s military actions in Gaza. She has characterized the conflict as a "genocide" against Palestinians, a charge that both Israel and the United States vehemently deny. Her outspoken criticism has not only drawn ire from Israeli officials but also from the U.S. government, which provides substantial military support to Israel.
The sanctions announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio specifically target Albanese for her efforts to prompt legal actions through the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges related to the deprivation of essential goods to Palestinians in Gaza. Rubio condemned Albanese’s work as a "campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel" and declared that such actions "will no longer be tolerated."
Rubio’s announcement came on the heels of Albanese’s recent report, released on July 1, 2025, titled "From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide." The report named over 60 companies—including major U.S. technology giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as other international corporations such as Caterpillar, Airbnb, Lockheed Martin, South Korea’s HD Hyundai, Sweden’s Volvo Group, France's BNP Paribas, and the UK's Barclays—as complicit in supporting Israel’s military operations and occupation. Albanese accused these companies of profiting from the conflict, transforming Israel’s economy of occupation into what she called an "economy of genocide."
The report urged the ICC and national judicial systems to investigate and prosecute corporate executives and companies involved, while also calling on UN member states to impose sanctions and asset freezes against these entities. In response, Rubio accused Albanese of engaging in "economic warfare" against the United States, highlighting her "threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide," including major American firms across finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality sectors.
These sanctions freeze any assets Albanese may hold in the U.S. and are expected to restrict her ability to travel there. Given the interconnectedness of the U.S. and European economies, the sanctions could also have broader financial implications, potentially limiting her dealings within the European Union due to the risk of secondary sanctions on banks and financial institutions that might transact with her.
Albanese dismissed the sanctions as "mafia style intimidation techniques" and remained focused on her work. She criticized European governments for allowing Netanyahu to use their airspace while traveling, despite his ICC warrants for war crimes. "Italian, French and Greek citizens deserve to know that every political action violating the [international] legal order, weakens and endangers all of them. And all of us," she wrote on social media.
The U.S. government’s campaign against Albanese is part of a broader effort to counter criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Earlier in 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism called for her removal from the UN post, citing what it described as a "years-long pattern of virulent anti-Semitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias." The U.S. mission to the UN issued a scathing statement accusing Albanese of false and offensive allegations of genocide and apartheid against Israel.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva condemned Albanese’s report as "legally groundless, defamatory, and a flagrant abuse of her office," accusing her of whitewashing Hamas atrocities. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon praised the U.S. sanctions, stating that Albanese’s "relentless and biased campaign against Israel and the United States has long crossed the line from human rights advocacy into political warfare." The Israeli government had banned Albanese from the country in February 2024 after she publicly asserted that the victims of the October 7, 2023, massacre were killed "not because of their Jewishness, but in response to Israeli oppression."
The conflict itself began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched an attack into Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 captives. Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza, backed by the U.S., has resulted in over 57,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, with women and children comprising a large portion of the casualties. The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, creating a dire humanitarian crisis where critically wounded individuals struggle to receive medical care.
Human rights advocates have strongly criticized the U.S. sanctions on Albanese. Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, called the move "all about silencing a UN expert for doing her job—speaking truth about Israeli violations against Palestinians and calling on governments and corporations not to be complicit." She warned that the U.S. is undermining international norms and institutions that survivors of grave abuses depend on.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard expressed dismay at the sanctions, emphasizing that special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed to fulfill their mandates, not to appease governments. She urged global governments to protect Albanese and uphold the independence of UN experts.
Nancy Okail, head of the Center for International Policy think tank, described the sanctions as "devastating," arguing that sanctioning a UN expert signals that the United States is behaving like a dictatorship. "You cannot say you are for the rule of law or any sort of international order if you support this," she said. Okail added that punishing the ICC or those engaged in its due process aligns the U.S. with dictators and war criminals, regardless of opinions about Netanyahu’s guilt.
The sanctions announcement coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, D.C., during the week of July 7, 2025. Rubio and Netanyahu met on July 9, underscoring the close coordination between the U.S. administration and Israel amid the ongoing conflict and international scrutiny.
On July 10, 2025, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk called for the "prompt reversal" of the U.S. sanctions against Albanese and urged a halt to attacks and threats against UN-appointed experts. His appeal highlights growing concern within international institutions about the chilling effect such punitive measures may have on independent human rights monitoring.
As the war grinds on, with devastating humanitarian consequences and mounting international legal challenges, the U.S. sanctions against Albanese reflect a broader struggle over accountability, justice, and the future of human rights advocacy in one of the most contentious conflicts of our time. Albanese herself remains undeterred, insisting, "No one is safe until everyone is safe," as she continues to call for global action against what she terms a genocide in Gaza.
