Francesca Albanese | Shooting the messenger

On July 1, the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, released a report detailing the companies that benefited from Israel’s invasion of Gaza. The Italian legal expert blamed some 48 firms — many of them American — for partaking in what she called an “economy of genocide” and warned that they risked complicity in war crimes by using the territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank as a testing ground for new technology. Ultimately, she called upon these companies to stop doing business with Israel and sought to bring them to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A week later on July 9, the U.S., a staunch Israel ally, sanctioned Ms. Albanese, with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, accusing her of spreading “unabashed anti-Semitism” and undertaking a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel”. Israel, which had already banned the lawyer from the country following a March 2024 report that blamed it of genocide in Gaza, has rejected the latest report as “groundless”.

Special Rapporteurs are independent investigators employed by the UN to examine specific issues. They do not fall under the jurisdiction of the UN Secretary-General but come within the ambit of the UN Human Rights Council.

The U.S., by virtue of not being a signatory of the Rome Statute of 1998 that established the ICC in 2002, and having quit the UN Human Rights Council since Donald Trump’s return to office earlier this year, holds little sway over Special Rapporteurs and ICC judges. This leaves sanctions as the primary response for unfavourable decisions directed at the country.

The curbs on Ms. Albanese would prevent her and family members from travelling to the U.S. and freeze any assets in the country. The measures should hardly come as a surprise for the lawyer. From ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to the four judges who issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for ‘crimes against humanity’ in Gaza, sanctions have been Donald Trump’s preferred tool to counter moves deemed damaging towards his country and its ally.

Albanese’s fight

Since taking up the job in 2022, Ms. Albanese has been vocal about Israeli occupation and the plight of Palestinians in Gaza. She has pressured other countries to sanction Israel, denounced the U.S. President’s plan to “take over” Gaza, encouraged ICC action against the Israeli Prime Minister and even condemned Italy, Greece and France for letting Mr. Netanyahu use their airspace on his way to Washington earlier this week.

Many times, this outspoken nature has provided fodder for her critics, who flagged her 2014 remark about a “Jewish lobby” in Washington that influences the U.S. government’s decisions.

In her latest endeavour, Ms. Albanese has named companies ranging from arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin to tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., for helping track Gazans. Part of the list are firms such as Caterpillar, HD Hyundai and Volvo that provide equipment used to bulldoze houses in Gaza. Rental portals Booking.com and Airbnb are named for aiding illegal settlements. A Chinese agricultural company, as well as French bank BNP Paribas and the U.K.’s Barclays also find mention among others. Tying them together are the world’s two biggest asset management firms, BlackRock and Vanguard — both U.S.-based firms that have invested in multiple companies on her list.

She argues in her report that corporate firms are bound to ensure rights are not violated through direct action or business partnerships. Thus, Ms. Albanese may be trying to recreate the clamour that was raised when private companies were engaged in trade with the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Whether the report creates sufficient noise to reach the customer’s ear and make a difference will only be revealed over time. Nevertheless, Ms. Albanese has brushed aside the sanctions, saying, “the powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt.”

Much like the British punk-rock duo Bob Vylan, whose chants of “Death to IDF” at the Glastonbury Music festival last month sparked backlash from Western governments, Ms. Albanese, too, in her reaction, refused to divert attraction from the crisis at hand, saying “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”.