Hamas Defends UN Official Targeted by US
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Hamas has criticized the United States sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a senior United Nations Human Rights Council official, for her alleged antisemitism, support for terrorism and "open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West".
The move is "a blatant expression of the American administration's flagrant bias in favor of Zionist war crimes," Hamas said in a statement on Friday.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.
Why It Matters
Hamas support for Albanese may be more likely to reinforce the U.S. and Israeli accusations of bias against her than to counter them. The controversy comes at a time the United States is trying to arrange a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
30 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Yunis: Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters surround Red Cross vehicles arriving for the hand over of the Israeli and Thai hostages, as part of the latest hostages-prisoners exchange between Israel...
30 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Yunis: Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters surround Red Cross vehicles arriving for the hand over of the Israeli and Thai hostages, as part of the latest hostages-prisoners exchange between Israel and Hamas, in front of the slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's house in Khan Yunis. More
Abed Rahim Khatib/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
What To Know
Hamas said by sanctioning figures like Albanese, the U.S. is undermining international law and effectively acting as a partner in the ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
The U.S. accuses the UN rapporteur of "virulent antisemitism," support for terrorism, misrepresenting her legal credentials, and unfairly targeting companies doing business with Israel. The decision came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Gaza with President Donald Trump at the White House.
"The powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt," Albanese wrote in reaction to the U.S. sanctions on X, formerly Twitter.
This week, Albanese released a new UN report titled From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, alleging that "corporate machinery" is "sustaining Israel's settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians."
"Genocide, it would seem, is profitable," she wrote, calling for accountability.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Dannon welcomed the U.S. decision sanctions, saying Albanese promoted "false, dangerous narratives that are detached from reality," on his X account.
What People Are Saying
Hamas statement via Telegram, translated from Arabic: "The punitive measures the United States is taking against institutions and individuals fulfilling their professional and moral duties in response to the genocide in Gaza—most recently Albanese—undermine the foundations of international and humanitarian law, and embolden the occupation's leaders, who are war criminals, to continue their brutal crimes. The U.S. administration must reconsider these policies, which place it as a de facto partner in the killing of children and women and the destruction of civilian life in Gaza. It must withdraw its criminal cover for this massacre, which has continued for twenty-one months."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote Wednesday on X: "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."
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Thursday, according to official website: "The imposition of sanctions on Special Rapporteurs sets a dangerous precedent. The use of unilateral sanctions against Special Rapporteurs or any other UN expert or official is unacceptable."
What Happens Next
The UN is calling for a reversal of U.S. sanctions on Albanese.
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