Rubio sanctions UN official over efforts to prompt legal case against Israel

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced sanctions against UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese over her recommendations to the International Criminal Court that it issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated," Rubio said. "We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.

The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies."

The State Department highlighted that neither the U.S. nor Israel are parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and asserted that Albanese's efforts to secure ICC warrants were violations of U.S. and Israeli sovereignty.

"The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare, to check and prevent illegitimate ICC overreach and abuse of power, and to protect our sovereignty and that of our allies," the State Department asserted.