In response to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's announcement of sanctions targeting UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese for her investigations and reports on Israeli war crimes and complicit corporate actors, DAWN issued the following statement:
"Secretary Rubio has hit a new low by deploying U.S. sanctions to punish a UN official for doing her job, documenting Israeli crimes and seeking accountability for Israeli war criminals," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. "The ICC should indict Secretary Rubio for this naked assault on international law and obstruction of justice, which serve only the interests of Israeli war criminals."
"The US and Israeli governments are now on a shameless global campaign, using the full force of their powers, to punish human rights advocates who are seeking legal redress for Israel's genocide in Gaza," said Raed Jarrar. "The US and Israel seem to believe they can bully the entire planet into submission, but the vast majority of the world continues to stand with justice for the Palestinian people."
"The U.S. targeting Albanese is a shameful perversion of state power, but it is also an indication of just how fragile Israeli impunity really is," said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, Israel-Palestine director at DAWN. "Francesca Albanese has been one of the bravest and most resolute voices speaking with absolute moral clarity about Israel's genocide in Gaza."
