Francesca Albanese sanctioned by the US, the UN rapporteur under attack for her dossier on companies "complicit" with Israel.

In an official statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio , the Trump administration's “foreign minister,” announced that the White House has imposed sanctions against Francesca Albanese , the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The sanctions are the latest and most serious of the measures taken by the United States, and before that by Israel , against Albanese: on the other hand, the UN rapporteur is known for having openly criticized the abuses committed by the IDF , the Israeli Defense Forces, in the Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip under attack and partially occupied after 7 October 2023.

Rubio has accused Albanese of anti-Semitism and of waging “a campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel ,” while the U.S. Department of Justice's anti-Semitism task force recently called for her to be removed from her UN post.

The Secretary of State also pointed the finger at the Italian jurist for having “ threatened the national interest and sovereignty of the United States ” because with her work she accused “dozens of companies around the world, including major American companies” of contributing to the destruction of the Palestinian people.

The reference in this is to the recent report produced by Francesca Albanese for the United Nations, entitled “ From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide ” and presented to the Human Rights Council last week, which lists over 40 private companies , including US ones, that directly or indirectly support the Israeli army and the occupation of Palestinian territories.

It obviously includes military companies, such as the American Lockheed Martin , which produces the F-35 fighter jets, but also the Italian Leonardo , formerly Finmeccanica, whose largest shareholder is the Italian Ministry of Economy. The report then cites other US tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon , which supply Tel Aviv with "dual-use" technologies—those sold for civilian purposes but which Israel can also use for its own military activities—as well as other types of companies. For example, there are Volvo and Caterpillar , accused of producing and selling the heavy equipment (such as bulldozers) that the Israeli army uses to destroy homes and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as major European banks such as Barclays and BNP Paribas , accused of buying Israeli government bonds, thereby financing the country's economy and therefore indirectly providing the financial means to continue the offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In her report, Albanese calls for imposing economic sanctions and an arms embargo against the Jewish state. The UN Special Rapporteur has been barred from Israel since February 2024: she was denied entry by Benjamin Netanyahu's government .

Regarding the sanctions announced by Rubio, the State Department statement does not provide details on their extent, but it is likely that Albanese will be banned from entering the United States and any assets he may have in the country will be seized.