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Thursday, May 21, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 21, 2026
US Treasury removes anti-Israel UN envoy Albanese from sanctions list
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UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese talks to The Associated Press at the Sarajevo airport in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thursday, July 10, 2025, on her way to events commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
The United States has removed Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, from its list of sanctioned individuals, according to the US Treasury Department website, which doesn’t provide an explanation for the move.
The removal comes a week after a federal judge temporarily blocked the sanctions, finding that the Trump administration likely violated her free-speech rights by imposing the measures.
Albanese, who has long been accused of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric against Israel, had been sanctioned by the Trump administration last year for alleged “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel, barring her from entering the US and banking there.
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