The family of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, on Thursday sued US President Donald Trump and members of his administration over their sanctions against Albanese.
The plaintiffs in the case are Albanese’s husband, Massimiliano Cali, and her daughter, a minor who is identified by her initials, L.C. The other defendants are US Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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.
Albanese has said the sanctions have been devastating, barring her from work opportunities and everyday financial transactions.
Cali and Albanese own a home in Washington, DC. Their daughter was born in the US, and the family is “part of the national community,” says the lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in Washington, DC.
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The lawsuit claims the sanctions are a violation of 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.
Albanese and Cali are not US citizens, but the lawsuit argues that their daughter, who is a citizen, can file the claims.
Albanese is barred from bringing the claims in her own name by UN policy.
The family lived in the US from 2012 until 2015.
The lawsuit asks the court to rule that the sanctions are unconstitutional.
Italian UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese (2ndL), Swedish anti-Israel Greta 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)
A State Department spokesperson said the lawsuit was baseless. “The United States will continue to condemn and oppose her biased and malicious activities, which have long made her unfit for her role,” the spokesperson said, calling Albanese “a disgrace.
Albanese, in her role as an independent investigator for the UN, 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.
‘Toxic’
Speaking Thursday with reporters, Albanese denounced what she described as “toxic” attacks impacting her personal life and work, after a number of European states called for her resignation.
In recent weeks, Germany, France, Italy and others have called for Albanese to step down over her criticism of Israel. Albanese claims the remarks were taken out of context and misconstrued.
“I can tell you how toxic and personally damaging for me and for my family these past days, weeks and months have been,” she said via video link from Jordan.
A letter seen by Reuters, sent by the permanent mission of Israel in Geneva to the Council’s president on February 15, stated that she had flagrantly violated the UN’s code of conduct.
“As long as she holds a UN mandate, she fundamentally undermines the credibility and moral authority of the United Nations,” the letter stated, adding that Albanese had repeatedly shared antisemitic tropes — allegations that she previously denied.
On Tuesday, the ambassador to the French mission to the UN in Geneva reiterated concerns by the French foreign minister of “extremely problematic statements” by a United Nations special rapporteur in an apparent reference to Albanese, without mentioning her by name.
“All those who speak under the auspices of the United Nations, including Special Rapporteurs, must exercise the restraint, moderation, and discretion required by their mandate,” Céline Jurgensen told delegates at the UN Human Rights Council.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called earlier in February for Albanese’s resignation over “unacceptable” comments he said had been targeted “not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation.”
Days earlier, while speaking via videoconference at a forum in Doha, organized by the Al Jazeera network, Albanese had referred to a “common enemy” that enabled the “genocide” in Gaza.
Pro-Israel activists and the European diplomats accused Albanese of referring to Israel as the “common enemy,” which she denied.
Albanese posted an unedited clip of her comments on social media, with the caption: “The common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese talks during a rally to denounce Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza, in Madrid on June 23, 2025. (Thomas Coex/AFP)
Albanese, in the letter obtained by Reuters, described the US sanctions against her as being part of a broader strategy by the current US administration to weaken international accountability mechanisms.
“These smears, the sanctions, the continuous attacks from all over, from those very states who should use that energy as stamina to go after those who are accused by the highest court in the world of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide,” Albanese stated.
Albanese has a long history of making statements accused of being antisemitic, anti-Israel and pro-Hamas.
On October 11, 2023, four days after the attack, Albanese said she doubted reports of rape and sexual violence. Instead, she said the US and Israel were spreading these claims to escalate tensions. She said Israel had no right to self-defense immediately after the Hamas invasion of Israel; said Israelis should be “considered suspect” and investigated when they are abroad; said other countries should halt pharmaceutical exports to Israel; characterized Israel as a “genocidal society”; and positioned the Jewish state as an impediment to global justice.
She told a Harvard University gathering that when Hamas refers to killing Jews (Yahudi), they do not actually mean Jews.
She has called accusations that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 massacre “fallacious allegations,” though there has been clear evidence supporting it.
Last November, she posted a cartoon denouncing Israel, depicting what appeared to be a global spiderweb, its strands draped with cash and weapons, in an image that experts said echoed age-old antisemitic tropes.
Israel has strongly denied and dismissed allegations of genocide. In September, Israeli ambassador Daniel Meron said a UN report that said top Israeli officials had incited genocide during the war in Gaza was “scandalous” and “fake.”
The president of the UN Human Rights Council, Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, on Monday expressed concern and regret at personal attacks directed “against certain mandate holders” at the Council and reiterated his support for them.
“Their independence and protection remain essential to the effectiveness, credibility and legitimacy of the council’s collective action.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.