A United Nations official who has been described as “notorious for her anti-Israel bias” will remain the subject of sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump, for now.
That’s after a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The judges granted the federal government’s request to block a lower court decision that overturned those sanctions. That lower court ruling had frozen, temporarily, the sanctions against Francesca Albanese, and the decision gives a huge victory to the Trump administration which penalized Albanese over her “outspoken bias” and aggressive demands for the International Criminal Court to investigate Americans and Israelis.
According to a report from Israel National News, “Because United Nations regulations prevent Albanese from launching a lawsuit in her own name, the legal challenge was initiated by her husband and her daughter, who holds U.S. citizenship. The family argued in court that the restrictive measures brought profound personal and financial hardship to their household and infringed upon Albanese’s constitutional free speech rights.”
A lower court judge had claimed that reasoning was correct, only to be reversed by the D.C. Circuit, which ruled the government met the legal threshold to secure a stay of the district court order, and the arguments will continue now over the actual legality of the sanctions.
U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said, “VICTORY: Francesca Albanese loses major battle as U.S. Court of Appeals denies her bid to suspend sanctions pending appeal. Sanctions to remain in force throughout the case. Two judges signalled her central First Amendment claim is unlikely to succeed.”
2/ Our legal brief to the D.C. District Court argued that Albanese used her UN mandate not merely to express opinions but to actively support, promote, and coordinate with the ICC’s prosecution of Israeli and U.S. leaders — the precise conduct targeted by Executive Order 14203. pic.twitter.com/ZHRRYEfzQi
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 15, 2026
The report explained Albanese’ anti-Israel agenda has been documented for years already.
She once claimed that a “Jewish lobby” controls the United States, and after the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas terrorists of more than 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians, she demanded that the atrocity be viewed in the “context” of Israel’s “aggression,” the report said.
She also claimed the world gave Israel a “license” to torture Palestinians and she mocked the bereaved mother of an October 7 victim, telling her to “change medication.”
The American Center for Law and Justice, which had supplied a friend-of-the-court brief on the issue, called the ruling a “significant victory for the rule of law, American sovereignty, and the president’s constitutional authority to defend our allies.”
It identified Albanese as the U.N.’s “special rapporteur” who “repeatedly urged the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, and prosecute Israeli officials and American citizens.”
It was Trump’s Executive order 142103 that set sanctions for “foreign nationals who actively assisted the ICC’s illegitimate campaign to prosecute our close ally Israel – including sitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Albanese, an Italian citizen, in her anti-Israel campaign had told the ICC to prosecute American companies and executives, too.
The ACLJ said, “In a powerful concurrence, Circuit Judge Katsas – joined by Circuit Judge Henderson – laid out the constitutional analysis with clarity: The First Amendment simply does not apply to the speech of non-resident aliens conducted abroad. As Judge Katsas explained, it is ‘long settled’ that ‘foreign citizens outside U.S. territory do not possess rights under the U.S. Constitution.’ An Italian citizen living in Tunisia, filing briefs in The Hague, cannot invoke the First Amendment to shield herself from lawful economic sanctions imposed by the President of the United States.”
Further, the ruling said Trump was acting under Congress’ express authorization under federal law and his constitutional Article II authority.
