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The Biden-era kid gloves are off.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the United States is imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the controversial United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Palestinian rights.
“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” Rubio posted on X. “We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”
Albanese has pushed to haul U.S. and Israeli officials before the International Criminal Court (ICC), drawing outrage from lawmakers, diplomats, and human rights advocates alike.
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In multiple reports and public comments since her 2022 appointment, Albanese has accused Israel of apartheid and dismissed Hamas violence as “not surprising.” According to her July 2025 report to the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese claimed the U.S. may be ‘liable for the international crime of aggression’ for President Trump’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.
Albanese has also taken aim at American-based companies supplying defense technologies to Israel, suggesting they should face legal consequences for “aiding and abetting” alleged crimes. In a now‑deleted 2022 post, she questioned whether “the Jewish lobby” controlled U.S. foreign policy, a comment she later retracted amid criticisms that it espoused antisemitism.
“The State Department is to be congratulated for finally taking action against Albanese, her virulent and violent antisemitism and her constant attacks on the United States, American businesses and the very existence of the State of Israel,” said Anne Bayefsky, President of Human Rights Voices, in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.
“Albanese poses a direct threat to the well-being and security of U.S. citizens – not to mention her utter disregard for the theoretical purposes and principles of the United Nations – and as such, the United States is not obligated to admit her. President Trump’s Executive Order requiring action on international actors bent on throwing American and Israeli soldiers into International Criminal Court dungeons in the Hague needs even more enforcement,” Bayefsky added.
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Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 11, 2024. (REUTERS/Pierre Albouy)
“Add Navi Pillay and her diabolical UN Commission of Inquiry. There is an answer for those who would incorrectly argue that the U.S. is impotent in the face of the U.S-UN host agreement: kick the UN out of the U.S. along with Albanese and her UN partners in crime,” the statement concluded.
Israeli leaders quickly backed Rubio’s move. “A clear message. Time for the UN to pay attention!” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar posted in response.
The UN Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, speaks during the gala of the Publico 2025 Awards, at CaixaForum Madrid, on 25 June, 2025. (Matias Chiofalo/Europa Press via Getty Images)
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon also weighed in to the Jerusalem Post: “Albanese consistently undermines the credibility of the UN by promoting false and dangerous narratives… We will not remain silent.”
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, weighed in with a statement to Fox News Digital, writing: “This is a bold and courageous move by Secretary Rubio. No UN official — in this case, a purported official, as her reappointment was illegal — has ever been sanctioned before in history. Then again, no UN official has ever been condemned for Holocaust distortion and antisemitism by France, Germany, Canada, and both Democratic and Republican US administrations.”
“She will never again spread her poison on American campuses or enter the country. Justice is served. Good triumphs over evil.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the UN for comment on the sanctions against Albanese, but did not immediately receive a response.
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The State Department referred Fox News Digital to Secretary Rubio’s July 9 X post when asked for comment.