United Nations’ special rapporteur for Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese says US sanctions against her a sign of ‘guilt’: “All eyes must remain on Gaza, where children are dying of starvation in their mothers’ arms, while their fathers and siblings are bombed into pieces while searching for food...”

 ... The US sanctions are the culmination of an extraordinary and sprawling campaign of nearly six months by the Trump administration [using “mafia-style intimidation techniques”]  to quell criticism of Israel’s handling of the deadly war in Gaza. 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.

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese says ‘it looks like I’ve hit a nerve’ after the US imposed sanctions on her amid her investigation of human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories. Photograph: Darko Bandić/AP

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, has responded to news that she will be sanctioned by the Trump administration with a post on X saying “the powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt”.

On Wednesday, as part of its effort to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza, the state department sanctioned Albanese, an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.

In two posts on Thursday, she wrote “Let’s stand tall, together” and urged international observers to focus on the crisis inside Gaza.

“All eyes must remain on Gaza, where children are dying of starvation in their mothers’ arms, while their fathers and siblings are bombed into pieces while searching for food,” she wrote.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/11/francesca-albanese-un-gaza-investigator-us-sanctions-guilt

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies] 

US issues sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN official investigating abuses in Gaza

Marco Rubio has received over a million $$ in donations from AIPAC, the pro Israel lobby. Don’t let the US silence Francesca Albanese @FranceskAlbs ! She deserves the Nobel prize more than anyone.

Munther Isaac منذر اسحق

@MuntherIsaac

 

While Netanyahu nominates Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in Washington, children are being massacred in Gaza by Netanyahu’s military using Trump’s weapons. This is a moral scandal of epic proportions. Humanity is in a grave moral decline. Lord, have mercy.

Medea Benjamin

 

@medeabenjamin

The U.S. just sanctioned UN Special Rapporteur @francesca.albanese.unsr.opt for exposing Israel’s war crimes. Marco Rubio wants to silence her but it’s backfiring. Millions are rallying behind Francesca, calling for her to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Mondoweiss

 

@Mondoweiss

 

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese over her calls for the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli and U.S. officials for war crimes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused her of waging “political and economic warfare” against the U.S. and Israel, calling her efforts “illegitimate and shameful.” Albanese has been a prominent voice condemning Israel’s genocide on Gaza and urging international law to take action.

 

James J. Zogby

 

@jjz1600

“Israel Launches New Ground Incursion in Lebanon, Raising Fears for Truce” 

 

Israel’s definition of ceasefire: you cease & we’ll fire. 

 

James J. Zogby

 

@jjz1600

 

Sec Rubio, your crude effort to sanction UN Human Rights champion Francesca Albanese & the International Criminal Court only serves to establish that the US is an international outlaw. Israel is violating international law & human rights & the US is enabling it. It’s a disgrace

 

Steve Wall

 

@stevethewall

 

Marco Rubio has received over a million $$ in donations from AIPAC, the pro Israel lobby. Don’t let the US silence Francesca Albanese @FranceskAlbs ! She deserves the Nobel prize more than anyone. 

 

@SecRubio

The Intellectualist

 

@highbrow_nobrow

MSNBC highlights past insults from Trump’s current allies: JD Vance called him “America’s Hitler,” Marco Rubio said “Con Artist,” RFK Jr. said “Sociopath,” Tulsi Gabbard called him “Saudi Arabia’s B****,” Elise Stefanik said “Whack Job,” and more.

 

Amnesty International

 

@amnesty

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced sanctions against the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese. This is a shameless and transparent attack on the fundamental principles of international justice. Special Rapporteurs are not appointed to please governments or to be popular but to deliver their mandate. Read more  http://amn.st/60174vhgl

J.I.F.F.

 

@insurgenthought

Marco Rubio will be remembered as a central figure in the US’s and Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

 

Erika Guevara Rosas

 

@ErikaGuevaraR

 

The US sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur  @FranceskAlbs are a disgraceful affront to international justice. The measures announced today by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are a continuation of the Trump administration’s assault on international law and its efforts to protect the Israeli government from accountability at all costs. Our  @amnesty statement: https://amnesty.org/en/latest/news

Omar Baddar 

عمر بدّار

@OmarBaddar

Sending love & solidarity to the formidable  @FranceskAlbs who is now being targeted by the Trump regime for daring to demand accountability for Israel's genocide in Gaza.  These ghouls will make her life difficult in the meantime, but history will remember her principled courage.

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt

 

@FranceskAlbs

·

Jul 9

Since October 7, torture against Palestinian prisoners has become widespread and systematic. Both male and female detainees have been subjected to sexual violence, including rape. The documented gang rape at #SdeTeiman is not an isolated case—it’s part of a pattern. This is not just cruelty: inflicting severe physical or mental harm on members of a group 'as such' is a constitutive element of genocide. How much more evidence do people need to understand what is happening?

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt

 

@FranceskAlbs

 

Jul 1

My new UN report, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, is out today. 

It shows how corporations have fueled and legitimised the destruction of Palestine. 

Genocide, it would seem, is profitable. 

This cannot continue, accountability must follow.

ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/advance-version/a-hrc-59-23-aev.pdf

  #EconomyofOccupation #EconomyofGenocide

 

https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-palestine

James J. Zogby: "Today’s Trump/Netanyahu meeting was an embarrassingly gross “log-rolling” exercise in flattery. Netanyahu says he nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize. Trump calls Netanyahu “the greatest man alive.” It made me sick. Meanwhile the genocide of Palestinians continues"

James J. Zogby

@jjz1600

Today’s Trump/Netanyahu meeting was an embarrassingly gross “log-rolling*” exercise in flattery. Netanyahu says he nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize. Trump calls Netanyahu “the greatest man alive.” It made me sick. 

Meanwhile the genocide of Palestinians continues

*Log-rolling

Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member. In organizational analysis, it refers to a practice in which different organizations promote each other's agendas, each in the expectation that the other will reciprocate. In an academic context, the Nuttall Encyclopedia describes logrolling as "mutual praise by authors of each other's work".

Israeli plan for forced transfer of Gaza’s population ‘a blueprint for crimes against humanity’. Military ordered to turn ruins of Rafah into ‘humanitarian city’ but experts call the plan an internment camp for all Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians will have to pass ‘security screening’ into the camp and then will not be allowed to leave, the defence minister told Israeli journalists. Photograph: Reuters

Israel’s defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.

Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel’s military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported.

Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists.

Israeli forces would control the perimeter of the site and initially “move” 600,000 Palestinians into the area – mostly people currently displaced in the al-Mawasi area.

Eventually the entire population of Gaza would be housed there, and Israel aims to implement “the emigration plan, which will happen”, Haaretz quoted him saying.

Since Donald Trump suggested at the start of the year that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza to “clean out” the strip, Israeli politicians including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have enthusiastically promoted forced deportation, often presenting it as a US project.

Katz’s scheme breaks international law, said Michael Sfard, one of Israel’s leading human rights lawyers. It also directly contradicted claims made hours earlier by the office of Israel’s military chief, which said in a letter that Palestinians were only displaced inside Gaza for their own protection.

“(Katz) laid out an operational plan for a crime against humanity. It is nothing less than that,” Sfard said. “It is all about population transfer to the southern tip of the Gaza Strip in preparation for deportation outside the strip.

“While the government still calls the deportation ‘voluntary’, people in Gaza are under so many coercive measures that no departure from the strip can be seen in legal terms as consensual.

“When you drive someone out of their homeland that would be a war crime, in the context of a war. If it’s done on a massive scale like he plans, it becomes a crime against humanity,” Sfard added.

 Katz laid out his plans for Gaza shortly before Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC for meetings with Donald Trump... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/07/israeli-minister-reveals-plan-to-force-population-of-gaza-into-camp-on-ruins-of-rafah

   [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

Dear Hitler 2.0 [Trump], etc.: Please stop fueling corporate corruption, WAR, and escalating suffering for countless men, women, and children.

Dear Hitler 2.0 [Trump], etc.,

Please stop fueling corporate corruption, WAR, and escalating suffering for countless men, women, and children.

PLEASE stop being a bull in a china shop.

Greed is not good. 

Violating sovereign borders and international law is also not good.

AND FYI Israel does not need more weapons of war plus more time to inflict even more torture & starvation on prisoners living in Israeli made concentration camps and Apartheid situations.  

Might is not right.  Genocide is wrong.

The rule of fair and just laws is right.  

Respecting basic human rights is right.  

Diversity, equality, and inclusion empower a better way forward for everyone's sake. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

Notes  https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Dr Martin Luther King Jr

United Nations Geneva #DisarmamentDay: For the 9th consecutive year, global military spending increased in 2023, reaching a record $2.4 trillion... military spending continues to soar while peace initiatives remain woefully underfunded.

Francesca Albanese: Imagine if people stopped telling the Palestinians what to do and instead focused on Israel's LEGAL OBLIGATIONS

Humanitarian aid should never be used as a tool of war. Doctors w/o Borders: "Israel is once again blocking an entire population from receiving aid, using it as a bargaining chip. This is unacceptable, outrageous, and will have devastating consequences," says MSF’s Caroline Seguin. "The news has created uncertainty and fear, causing food prices to spike."

ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES: NO OTHER LAND Accepts the Oscar for Documentary Feature Film !!!

Oscars 2025: The winner for best documentary feature [NO OTHER LAND] still has no U.S. distribution... ‘No Other Land’ Oscar winners call for a different path on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

We Defend Our Right To Protest

SEIZED, SETTLED, LET: How Airbnb and Booking.com help Israelis make money from stolen Palestinian land... "Businesses should not enable, facilitate, or profit from serious violations of international law."

Photo by Palestinian Journalist Osama Abu Rabee أسامة أبوربيع : A rainbow this morning in Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Mar 1, 2025

United Nations: In this Holy Month, let us all embrace our common humanity to build a more just and peaceful world for all... as millions of people around the world begin to observe Ramadan.

Jewish Voice for Peace: Mazel tov to the Presbyterian Church (USA) on their historic vote to divest from Israel's occupation, one year ago! !!!!!!!!!

Israel, armed with American made weaponry and political support, invests in religious extremism and sets up families to be canon fodder for religious wars.... Israel claims to be Jewish, but what it really is is a cruel war machine that has been aggressively grabbing land, rights, and peace from the people of historic Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Hate crimes are escalating here in America with people primed by Zionism to think, say and do horrible things...

Slavery, Segregation and Forced Displacement are wrong. Wrong then and wrong now

Please do not demonize and silence or destroy people who speak out peacefully against corruption, injustice, racism, bigotry, and violence of every type.

Building a Culture of Peace ...

"Whatever our nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status, the international community on December 10 1948 made a commitment to upholding dignity and justice for all of us..."

Building a Culture of Peace

My Letters https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/letters

 

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Diversity, equality, and inclusion

In the aftermath of the ceasefire in Gaza, 1.9 million displaced people urgently need shelter, aid, and psycho-social support.⁣ ⁣UNRWA plays a vital role in fostering stability and resilience during this critical time.⁣

Sue Williamson, an anti-apartheid artist: “They’re trying to set it up that South Africa is not a credible country to bring such a case [the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel]... You’ll see South Africa dragged through the mud a lot more by Netanyahu [Benjamin, prime minister of Israel] and Trump and Musk.”

Chair for Ray Alexander, created from 1990 to 1992. Photograph: Sue Williamson

‘Trump and Musk are gaslighting’: anti-apartheid artist on how US president and his billionaire ally are attacking South Africa

Ahead of a career retrospective, Sue Williamson tells how the US pair are dragging her country ‘through the mud’

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine ]

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/23/trump-and-musk-are-gaslighting-anti-apartheid-artist-on-how-us-president-and-his-billionaire-ally-are-attacking-south-africa

Speaking from her studio in Cape Town, Williamson said: “Trump and Musk are just gaslighting, because of the judgment of the international court of justice (ICJ) against Israel.”

South Africa brought a case against Israel at the ICJ in December 2023, accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In January 2024, the UN court ordered Israel to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide, although it has not yet ruled on its previous acts. Israel has fiercely rejected the case.

“They’re trying to set it up that South Africa is not a credible country to bring such a case,” Williamson said. “You’ll see South Africa dragged through the mud a lot more by Netanyahu [Benjamin, prime minister of Israel] and Trump and Musk.”

Ahead of the opening of her retrospective at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town on 22 February, Williamson dismissed the US claims that South Africa was expropriating land from white Afrikaner farmers.

“It’s a much more considered process. If you look back to the Land Act of 1913, when black farmers lost their land to whites, it’s about time that something was done to reverse that.” .... READ MORE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Williamson has produced many forms of resistance art that examines the history of South Africa.  For instance with 'One Hundred and Nineteen Deeds of Sale' Williamson incorporates the history and memory of the slave trade in order to transform the stigmatizing history into a history that can address and combat global inequalities.

'One Hundred and Nineteen Deeds of Sale' by Sue Williamson              https://www.sue-williamson.com/one-hundred-and-nineteen-deeds-of-s