US reimposes sanctions on anti-Israel UN rapporteur week after dropping them

Move comes after appeals court issued administrative stay on earlier ruling that had deemed sanctions on Francesca Albanese a likely violated her free-speech rights

The United States on Wednesday reimposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza who has been bitterly critical of Israel, after an appeals court overruled an earlier order prohibiting the action.

A notice on the Treasury Department’s website showed that it had reimposed a sanctions designation on Albanese that blacklists her globally, making it impossible for her to use major credit cards or carry out bank transactions.

Albanese, an Italian national 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 a United Nations special rapporteur, she has recommended that the International Criminal Court pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and American nationals.

Early last week, the US removed ​Albanese from its list of sanctioned individuals 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.

But on Friday, an appeals court issued an administrative stay on the federal judge’s earlier ruling while the court considers the merits of the case.

The case was brought by Albanese’s husband, Massimiliano Cali, on behalf of their child, a US citizen who is still a minor.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announcing sanctions against her in July last year, said she has “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”

Albanese denies allegations of antisemitism.

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.

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 earlier this month granted a preliminary injunction against the sanctions, saying: “Protecting the freedom of speech is ‘always’ in the public interest.”

Albanese subsequently 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.”