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UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese Credit: Jure Makovec/AFP
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese Credit: Jure Makovec/AFP
A federal judge temporarily blocked U.S. sanctions issued against Francesca Albanese, a UN expert considered one of the most prominent public critics of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, whom critics accuse of veering into antisemitic territory with her aspersions.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington determined that Albanese’s residency outside the United States does not undercut her protections under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that the Trump administration sought to regulate her speech because of the “idea or message expressed.”
The ruling came nearly three months after Albanese’s husband and daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, sued the Trump administration over sanctions that were “effectively debanking her and making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of her daily life.” The Trump administration first placed sanctions on Albanese in July 2025, citing her influence on the International Criminal Court’s decision to take action against Israeli interests.
The sanctions came nearly six months after Israel declared Albanese persona non grata over her statement that “the victims of the October 7 massacre were not murdered because of their Jewishness, but in response to Israeli oppression.”