Trump admin sanctions Albanese for spewing ‘unabashed antisemitism,’ supporting terrorism
The U.S. State Department announced that it is sanctioning Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on Palestinian territories, under an executive order that states those who engage “directly” with an effort by the International Criminal Court to arrest or probe a “protected person” without the consent of the person’s country are subject to having their property and assets blocked.Shalom Francesca: US Sanctions UN’s Francesca Albanese on BDS’s 20th Birthday
“The United States has repeatedly condemned and objected to the biased and malicious activities of Albanese that have long made her unfit for service as a special rapporteur,” Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, said on Wednesday. “Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”
Albanese’s “bias has been apparent across the span of her career, including recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,” he said. (The court, which is based in The Hague, is not part of the United Nations.)
“Albanese has directly engaged with the International Criminal Court in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of those two countries,” continued Rubio. “Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the Rome Statute, making this action a gross infringement on the sovereignty of both countries.”
Albanese recently “escalated” her efforts by penning “threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across finance, technology, defense, energy and hospitality, making extreme and unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue investigations and prosecutions of these companies and their executives,” he explained.
“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” he said.
Albanese authored a report, released last week, accusing U.S.-based companies and organizations of being complicit in Israel’s so-called “genocide” in Gaza. One of them, Google, has countered that and pointed fingers at the United Nations of anti-Israel bias and more.
Her conduct—particularly efforts to encourage ICC action against Israeli leaders and American companies—has been labeled by U.S. officials as a gross infringement of sovereignty and a dangerous precedent of lawfare masquerading as international justice. The designation includes:BDS Isn’t 20 Years Old — It’s a Centuries-Old War on Jews, Rebranded for the West
A ban on entry into the United States,
Freeze on any U.S.-controlled assets,
Prohibition on American persons engaging in with her.
This is an UNpresedented action, she is the first UN official or expert to be sanctions by the United States. The final straw came last week when Albanese issued an incendiary report naming over 60 companies—including major U.S. corporations in tech, defense, finance, and energy—alleging complicity in “genocide.” These letters, which she sent directly to corporations around the world, were described by the U.S. government as an attempt to conduct “political and economic warfare” under the guise of human rights advocacy. Albanese’s demand that foreign entities cut ties with Israel mirrored the core strategy of BDS—delegitimize, isolate, and punish the Jewish state through institutional coercion while calling for Israel’s economy to be dismantled.
On July, the United States formally requested the United Nations remove Albanese from her position. In a letter, senior U.S. diplomats urged UN Secretary-General António Guterres to terminate her mandate, citing her long record of bias, antisemitism, and abuse of her role. In 2024, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas‑Greenfield publicly labeled her “unfit for her role” at the UN
Albanese has been condemned globally. France denounced her comparisons of Israeli actions to the Holocaust as “scandalous.” Germany labeled her remarks “appalling.” The Netherlands, Argentina, Hungary, and Israel all formally opposed her reappointment in 2025. Watchdog organizations including UN Watch, the World Jewish Congress, and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists have repeatedly called for her removal, citing her open hostility toward the Jewish state and her disregard for legal neutrality, specially after it was revealed a pro-Hamas group paid for her trip to Australia. Even Antonio Guterres allegedly said “she is a horrible person”
Her public comments about Israel are always beyond inflammatory, even absurd. Among her more revealing moments was when she declared that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar—one of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre—would not constitute “justice.” In another instance, she claimed that the killing of Hamas terrorists was part of the “core strategy” of Israel’s so-called genocide. According to Albanese, targeting mass murderers is proof of genocidal intent—yes, eliminating terrorist operatives, in her legal framework, is genocide. Statements like these reveal ideological bias.
Every July 9th, social media fills with tributes to the so-called “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” movement—framed as a peaceful campaign for Palestinian human rights that began in 2005. For many, that’s the entire story: a hashtag, a list of brands to boycott, a protest chant outside Starbucks—all in the name of “human rights.”
But the movement is far older. Much older.
BDS didn’t begin in 2005—or in this century. It’s not a reaction to the Six-Day War, settlements, or borders. It’s the latest phase in a century-old campaign to isolate, punish, and expel Jews—especially those returning to their ancestral homeland.
Long before hashtags or the first kibbutz, Jews faced organized boycotts designed to exclude them socially, economically, and politically. In the 1880s Russian Empire, pogroms combined violence with economic exclusion: Jewish shops were looted, then systematically shunned. Jews were barred from guilds and trade associations under legal restrictions.
In Nazi Germany in 1933, the first act was an economic boycott: Kauft nicht bei Juden—“Don’t buy from Jews.” Hungary followed in 1938, banning Jews from professions. Across Europe, nationalist movements pushed slogans like “Buy Christian only,” especially in Poland, where boycotts were endorsed by political parties and even state authorities.
These weren’t acts of conscience. They were declarations: You do not belong here.
Boycotts were hardly foreign to the Middle East.
In British Mandate Palestine, this strategy took early, brutal root.
Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, orchestrated organized boycotts against Jewish businesses—and incited violence against Arabs who defied him by trading or coexisting with Jews.
His chilling words were unambiguous:
"We will win through an economic boycott. The boycott in Moslem countries against Jewish industries is tight and daily growing tighter, until the industries will be broken and English friends, moved by pity, will remove the last remaining Jews on their battleships." Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini September 24, 1929
