Watchdog Groups Warn Amazon To Deplatform Francesca Albanese or Face U.S. Sanctions, Penalties

Jewish and U.N. watchdog organizations are calling on Amazon to comply with U.S. sanctions law and stop hosting a platform for U.N. Human Rights rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, who was listed in July as a Specially Designated National.The head of the National Jewish Advocacy Organization, Mark Goldfeder, said that Amazon is potentially violating the sanctions by permitting Ms. Albanese to have an author’s page and sell her book, “When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words and Wounds of Palestine,” which is to be available in April. “Under federal law, property and interests of Specially Designated Nationals are blocked and may not be transferred or paid out without specific authorization,” said Mr. Goldfeder.The executive director of U.N. Watch, Hillel Neuer, whose Swiss-based organization monitors the United Nations and its staff, informed Amazon in October that allowing Ms. Albanese to earn income from sales of her book is a violation of the sanction provisions. Mr. Neuer reminded Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jazzy, on Tuesday that the company is exposed if it continues to provide a platform for Ms. Albanese, whose designation is subject to the strongest sanctions to be placed on a foreign individual.“Our Oct. 30 legal demand urges Amazon to review any services currently being used by or on behalf of Francesca Albanese, including her personal page and the hosting of her books for sale on Amazon, and to immediately deactivate them,” he posted on X.“This is required by your clear internal terms of use as well as external compliance obligations under U.S. sanctions laws—most notably under Executive Order 14203—which, as you are aware, impose strict liability and expose violators to significant fines and penalties,” he said, adding that “even unintentional violations expose Amazon to significant civil penalties.”The letter notes that allowing Ms. Albanese to use Amazon violates its own terms, which state that individuals “may not use any Amazon Service if you are the subject of U.S. sanctions or of sanctions consistent with U.S. law imposed by the governments of the country where you are using Amazon Services.” Amazon has not publicly commented yet.Ms. Albanese, as the United Nations’ special rapporteur to the Palestinian territories, has been extremely critical of Israel and America. As recently as this week she called for America to be kicked out of the United Nations, located at New York. In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio named Ms. Albanese a Special Designated National in response to her encouraging the U.N.’s International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of America or Israel. Neither state is a member of the court, “making this a gross infringement on the sovereignty of both countries,” Mr. Rubio wrote.The designation states that any contribution, provision of funds, goods services, or donation for the benefit of the sanctioned individual is prohibited. Mr. Rubio said that Ms. Albanese also wrote threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across “finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality.” He said her pursuit of “campaigns of political and economic warfare” threaten American national interests and sovereignty. The request for Amazon to comply with the sanctions comes just days after Georgetown University, under pressure from American officials, severed its ties with the former affiliated scholar. The director of Georgetown’s Alwaleed Center in the school’s foreign service program, Nader Hashemi, said that he will invite Ms. Albanese to return to the campus and restore her affiliation as soon as the sanctions are lifted.Unbowed by the sanctions, Ms. Albanese on Sunday boasted that her book is now a bestseller in Italy and has been translated into 15 languages and will soon be available in English. “My voice on Palestine will continue to travel far and wide,” she said.

Watchdog Groups Warn Amazon To Deplatform Francesca Albanese or Face U.S. Sanctions, Penalties

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