Georgetown University drops UN’s Albanese due to US sanctions

The UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, said on Monday that Georgetown University in Washington, DC, had severed ties with her.

Albanese has a history of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric toward Israel, according to her critics. She says she is a champion for Palestinian rights and an opponent of discrimination, including against Jews.

The US State Department sanctioned Albanese in July, accusing her of “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel and “unabashed antisemitism.”

Albanese said Georgetown had dropped her due to the sanctions. She had been an affiliated scholar at the university and delivered a lecture there last year.

“Georgetown’s decision to end my 10-year affiliation is yet another fallout of the sanctions the US imposed on me last July for exposing Israel’s genocide,” Albanese said on X, rejecting reports that said she had been removed due to antisemitic remarks.

“Any other explanation is the usual laughable propaganda of the pro-genocide minions,” she said.

The university did not respond to requests for comment.

Albanese, an Italian national, has been removed from Georgetown’s list of affiliated scholars and her biography page has been dropped from the university website. Archived web pages show that the changes were made in recent months.

Her removal from Georgetown’s directory was first reported last week by UN Watch, a monitor that has campaigned against Albanese.

The sanctions against Albanese cut her off from all financial activity related to the US. She has said the sanctions have had a devastating impact on her personal life.

Despite the sanctions, Albanese is scheduled to publish a book through a US publisher, Other Press.

The book, “When the World Sleeps,” focuses on Albanese’s “years living in Jerusalem and her personal and professional journey toward understanding the Palestinian struggle,” the publisher says. Albanese lived in Jerusalem in the past while working for the UN agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA, but has been barred from Israel by the Israeli government since.

The book is set to be released in April 2026 and is available for pre-order on the publisher’s website and other outlets, including Amazon.

Eugene Kontorovich, a staunchly pro-Israel international legal expert and professor at George Mason University’s Scalia Law School, said that, under the US sanctions, “Selling the book is not the problem; any payments or other consideration to Albanese would be very problematic.”

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a federal law that US President Donald Trump cited for the sanctions, allows for prohibiting financial transactions, but does not allow the president to regulate informational materials, including publications.

Special rapporteurs are independent, unpaid experts appointed by the UN. As a special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Albanese releases periodic investigative reports and is granted a platform and authority to promulgate her views on the conflict.

Albanese has parlayed her UN position into celebrity status on the anti-Israel left and the right, appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show this month. She has more than 1 million followers on social media and often speaks at conferences and in media appearances.

She has published several other books in different languages, including at least one other book in English. The books are widespread in bookstores in her native Italy.