UN rapporteur tells Press TV US sanctions ‘nothing’ compared to Palestinian plight

UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese clarifies what motivates her to persevere despite the ongoing political assaults she has faced in recent months.

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From PressTV

The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories has shrugged off the recently imposed US sanctions over her critical stance on the Israeli regime, saying the bans are “nothing” compared to what Palestinians are enduring in their homeland.

Francesca Albanese explained in a brief interview with Press TV on Tuesday the reasons that push her to press ahead with her job despite the US-led political assaults she has faced in recent months owing to her staunch support for the rights of Palestinians.

“I’ve been under attack like the truth, and like anyone who speaks the truth, but this is nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going through; the Palestinians are under attack. I mean what happens to me is normal because we are challenging a system and it doesn’t mean to be sanctioned by a super power, it means to be sanctioned,” Albanese said.

“It is horrible because it changes my life, it deeply affects my private life, that of my family, it is unacceptable, this is against the UN Charter, this is against the UN Convention on the Privileges and Immunities, and the sanctions must be removed. So, I expect the United Nations to act with the United States diplomatically, politically, the way they want to make sure that this is redressed because it is unacceptable.”

Asked about the hostile US move to force Elon Musk, CEO of X, to remove the blue checkmark on her account, the UN special rapporteur told Press TV, “It does not matter. Who cares, it doesn’t matter. The blue check, I don’t care. What is it, that I need to write more succinctly? I will.”

Albanese, an Italian legal scholar and internationally respected human rights advocate, has consistently exposed Israel’s systemic crimes against Palestinians.

Last month, as part of effort to punish critics of the Israeli regime’s long-running genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, the US State Department sanctioned Albanese, blaming her for prompting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former war minister Yoav Gallant over genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territory.

In response to the news of sanctions, Albanese assertively said she will “continue to do what I have to do,” adding that she believed the sanctions were “calculated to weaken my mission.”

The US sanctions on Albanese over her anti-Israel stances were widely bashed by the human rights activists and organizations, as well as resistance groups and pro-Palestine political factions in the region.

Since October 2023, the Israeli regime’s war on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 61,020 Palestinians—most of them civilians, women, and children— and wounded 150,671 amid widespread destruction and blockade-induced starvation.

Legal experts and rights groups stress that sanctioning investigators like Albanese sets a dangerous precedent and weakens international law at a time when accountability is urgently needed.