A U.S. appeals court has ruled that sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, will remain in force after the administration asked to block their removal. The decision came as the Trump administration argued that the sanctions should stay in place until the matter is further reviewed.
The sanctions are tied to Albanese’s support for International Criminal Court proceedings against senior Israeli officials. Albanese has also faced years of criticism over harsh statements about Israel, including past remarks quoted by critics that she said America was “enslaved to the Jewish lobby” and that the Israeli lobby was “clearly in the veins” of the BBC.
The article says she drew further backlash after sharing material attributed to Iran’s Press TV alleging Western intelligence involvement in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, and after appearing at a Hamas conference in 2022 where she said Palestinians “have the right to resist.” Since Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israeli and other critics have accused her of downplaying the massacre, questioning evidence of atrocities, and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. In July 2024 she compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, in August 2024 she likened Israeli policy to the Nazis and called Gaza “the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century,” and in October 2024 she compared Israel to the Third Reich and its laws of “pure race.”
The article also recounts a 2024 X post in which she shared a doctored image reading, “A Gazan professor, doctor, raped to death in an Israeli prison,” saying she relied on a Sky News report that had not actually been published. The post drew four million views, and a UN spokesman rebuked her for spreading fake news and warned UN-affiliated officials to avoid disinformation. Britain, France, Germany, Canada, the U.S., Italy, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary and Czechia all issued unusual condemnations, with many calling for her resignation. The U.S. Justice Department recently sent the UN a sharp letter urging her removal, citing claims by UN Watch that she received funding from pro-Palestinian sources during visits to Australia and New Zealand. UN Watch director Hillel Neuer welcomed the ruling, saying it was significant because “the sanctions are already back in force.”
