U.S. Sanctions UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Over Her 'Campaign Of Political And Economic Warfare Against The U.S. And Israel'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that the U.S. is imposing sanctions on United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her "illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt International Criminal Court action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies and executives."

In a social media post, Rubio said that 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-defense. The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies," Rubio concluded.

Albanese, the rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, last week urged companies to stop doing business with Israel, warning that they risked becoming accomplices of what she described as a "genocide economy." Israel rejected the report, calling it "baseless."

The decision to sanction Albanese comes a month after the U.S. imposed sanctions on four International Criminal Court (ICC) judges over their "illegitimate actions targeting the United States and Israel." The State Department said the decision reflected "the seriousness of the threat we face from the ICC's politicization and abuse of power."

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Right, Volker Türk, condemned the decision, saying it was "deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice."

"I am profoundly disturbed by the decision of the Government of the United States of America to sanction judges of the International Criminal Court – specifically four women judges, from Benin, Peru, Slovenia and Uganda – who had been part of rulings in the situations in Afghanistan or in the State of Palestine," Türk said.