The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) welcomed the United States government’s decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, citing her longstanding record of antisemitic rhetoric and anti-Israel incitement.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions earlier in the day, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt International Criminal Court action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt @IntlCrimCourt action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives. Albanese’s campaign of political and economic…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 9, 2025
Rubio added: “Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated. We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense. The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.”
In response, CAM CEO Sacha Roytman praised the move as an essential measure to counter antisemitic incitement and delegitimization of Israel.
“Secretary Marco Rubio has taken decisive action to hold Francesca Albanese accountable for her relentless campaign of antisemitic smears and political warfare against Israel and the United States,” Roytman said in a statement. “Albanese has long exploited her UN platform to demonize the Jewish state, legitimize violence and terrorism, and undermine the very principles of international law she claims to defend. The administration’s sanctions are a critical step toward ensuring that those who traffic in Jew-hatred find no welcome in America.”
Albanese has faced repeated criticism for her controversial remarks. In 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza, she wrote: “America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish Lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust, remain on the sidelines,” invoking classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish control and manipulation.
Last year, CAM called for her dismissal from her UN post after she published a social media post likening Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, describing it as a shocking example of Holocaust inversion and demonization of Israel’s leadership.
CAM has long argued that Albanese’s continued role at the United Nations has undermined the credibility of international human rights mechanisms and emboldened those seeking to delegitimize Israel through “lawfare” and one-sided accusations.
The new U.S. sanctions represent one of the most significant steps yet taken by Washington to push back against what it sees as systematic bias and antisemitism within elements of the UN system.