The family of UN investigator Francesca Albanese has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over US sanctions imposed on her last year in response to her criticism of Israel’s policies during the war with Hamas in Gaza, The Associated Press reported.
The family claims the sanctions violate the First Amendment.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the US District Court in Washington, outlines the severe impact the sanctions have had on the family’s life and work, including the ability to access their home in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit states, “Francesca’s expression of her views about the facts as she has found them in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and about the work of the ICC is core First Amendment activity," referring to the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on allegations of war crimes.
“At its heart, this case concerns whether Defendants can sanction a person - ruining their life and the lives of their loved ones, including their citizen daughter - because Defendants disagree with their recommendations or fear their persuasiveness," the filing adds.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a State Department spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation.
Albanese has repeatedly come under fire over her anti-Israel bias. She was recently condemned by several European Union foreign ministers for comments made at an Al Jazeera conference, in which Albanese had said: “The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support ... We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy."
Albanese later claimed in an interview with France24 that she "never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity,'" calling the accusations "completely false accusations."
Albanese’s history of anti-Israel statements and actions is well-documented and dates back to social media posts uncovered in 2022, in which she claimed that the “Jewish lobby" controls the US.
At the time, Albanese rejected arguments that the comments about the “Jewish lobby" were antisemitic and claimed they were “mischaracterized", but her anti-Israel bias has continued to be exposed since.
Her criticism of Israel has grown since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack in Israel. The attack, in which Hamas terrorists killed over 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, was described by Albanese as an act that must be viewed in “context" and as a response to Israeli “aggression."
She has also, in recent months, accused Israel of genocide, likened the Government of Israel to the “Third Reich," and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.