US Treasury removes anti-Israel UN envoy Francesca Albanese from sanctions list

A week after federal judge nixed Trump administration’s sanctions on firebrand UN special rapporteur on free speech grounds, she is quietly taken off list of sanctioned individuals

The United States this week 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 didn’t provide an explanation for the move.

The removal came a week after a federal judge temporarily blocked the sanctions, finding that US President Donald Trump’s administration likely violated her free-speech rights by imposing the measures.

Albanese, who has long been accused of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric against Israel, was sanctioned by the Trump administration last year for alleged “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel. As United Nations special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, she has recommended the International Criminal Court pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and American nationals.

When announcing the sanctions last year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the step against Albanese was taken in light of “her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt International Criminal Court action against US and Israeli officials, companies and executives.”

Rubio also said she has “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”

In her role as an independent investigator for the UN, Albanese is supposed to act as an objective observer, but is accused of functioning more as an anti-Israel activist. She has parlayed her position into celebrity status, speaking at conferences and in the media, featuring in a documentary film, publishing popular books and garnering more than 1 million followers on social media.

Italian UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese (2ndL), Swedish anti-Israel Greta activist Thunberg (C) and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila (R) march during a pro-Palestinian demonstration, as part of the nationwide general strike, in Genoa, Italy, on November 28, 2025 (Piero CricoattiAFP)

The sanctions barred her from entering the US and banking there. Albanese has said the sanctions were devastating, barring her from work opportunities and everyday financial transactions.

Albanese’s husband and their US-born underage daughter, who is an American citizen, sued the Trump administration in February, alleging that the US sanctions are “effectively debanking her and making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of her daily life.”

The lawsuit claimed the sanctions violate First Amendment free speech protections, bar the family from accessing its home in an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment, and violate Fifth Amendment due process rights.

US District Judge Richard Leon last week granted a preliminary injunction against the sanctions, saying: “Protecting the freedom of speech is ‘always’ in the public interest.”

After the judge struck down the sanctions last week, Albanese said the US measures were “calculated to weaken my mission” when they were first imposed, and celebrated the ruling on social media.

“Thanks to my daughter and my husband for stepping up to defend me, and everyone who has helped so far,” Albanese said in a statement on X. “Together we are One.”