President Trump has said enough is enough. In a dramatic escalation of U.S. pressure on the United Nations, the Justice Department has demanded the removal of Francesca Albanese—recently departed UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine—following the release of evidence linking her to foreign funding from organizations allegedly tied to Hamas. A formal letter issued by the Civil Rights Division on May 19 accuses Albanese of breaching UN ethics rules by accepting travel subsidies and gifts from pro-Hamas lobby groups, and of using her platform to promote antisemitic rhetoric under the guise of human rights advocacy.
The charges are rooted in a damning report by UN Watch, published May 20, which details a 16-month effort by Albanese and UN staff to conceal payments from pro-Hamas groups. According to the report, Albanese’s 2023–2024 speaking tours—including visits to Australia and New Zealand—were not paid for by the UN, as she previously claimed, but rather underwritten by external actors connected to Hamas-aligned entities. This conduct, if verified, would constitute a direct violation of Article 3 of the UN’s Code of Conduct for Special Procedures, which prohibits such financial entanglements.
The Justice Department’s letter also condemns Albanese’s public statements minimizing the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, in which Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 civilians and took over 200 hostages. Albanese described the assault as a “response to Israeli oppression,” a characterization the Department says echoes terrorist propaganda and trivializes the targeting of Jews. Israel expelled her from the country. France publicly rebuked her. Yet Albanese, according to the letter, continued to wield her UN affiliation in defense of Hamas while ignoring both the hostage crisis and the documented diversion of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Welcome to my official DOJ X account! See the below letter to Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, on her pattern of antisemitic rhetoric & campaign against institutions supporting our close ally, Israel. The DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism will not stay silent! pic.twitter.com/gLuddtqd07
— Leo Terrell (@LeoTerrellDOJ) May 20, 2025
The Department further disputes Albanese’s claim to still hold UN authority. Though her term ended April 30, she has continued to speak as though reappointed. But according to UN Watch, her “renewal” was procedurally invalid—an internal maneuver pushed through the Human Rights Council without legal standing. The report also names her assistant, Sara Troian, as the intermediary who facilitated the unlawful travel funding, allegedly through a Dutch NGO acting as a cutout.
The United Nations has yet to respond. But in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, tolerance for UN figures seen as sympathetic to Hamas has collapsed across much of the Western world. The Albanese affair may be the clearest example yet of how global human rights mechanisms, hijacked by activist ideologues, are losing their moral legitimacy.
