The Trump administration on Wednesday announced sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, marking the latest effort by the US to punish critics of Israel's 21-month war in Gaza, reports Al Jazeera.
"Albanese's campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated," said the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on a social media post.
"We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defence."
Albanese is a human rights lawyer and independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.
The state department's decision to sanction Francesca Albanese comes after a recent US pressure campaign failed to force the international body to remove her from her post.
Albanese has been vocal in calling for an end to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, which she describes as "genocide", in alignment with the International Court of Justice.
Her position has also been backed by leading genocide scholars and rights organisations.
When reached by Al Jazeera to comment on the sanction, she appeared to dismiss it, as she expressed her commitment to continuing her work instead.
Most recently, she urged the world to sever ties with Israel's 'economy of genocide', during a speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva while presenting her latest report titled 'From economy of occupation to economy of genocide'.
In her report, she exhaustively named scores of companies she said were involved in supporting Israeli repression and violence towards Palestinians, including tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, IBM, Hyundai and Volvo.
The Italian lawyer also feels strongly about supporting the International Criminal Court's indictment of Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes.
Silencing criticism of Israel
Albanese has continuously been subjected to rebuke by Israel and its supporters. 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 recent action against Albanese is the culmination of the Trump administration's virulent campaign to silence criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza, which still shows no sign of ending.
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.
Human Rights experts decried the US sanctions against Albanese. Dylan Williams, vice-president for government affairs at the Centre for International Policy think tank, labelled them as "rogue state behaviour", while Amnesty International urged the world to protect Albanese to protect the rule-based world order.
21 months into the Israeli offensive in Gaza, since 7 October 2023, more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. The number is believed to be much higher than the official estimate.
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