The United States has removed Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, from its sanctions list, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s official website. The move, confirmed on the Treasury site, shows Washington deciding who gets punished and who gets spared in its management of the UN orbit.
Who Holds the Levers
The Treasury action came as The Times of Israel liveblog on Thursday, May 21, 2026, reported a separate US threat aimed at the Palestinian delegation to the UN. According to the liveblog, the United States was planning to threaten to revoke the visas of the Palestinian delegation if the mission’s envoy submits his candidacy for the vice presidency of the General Assembly. The cable was described as dated Wednesday and first reported by NPR.
The cable said US diplomats in the embassy in Jerusalem were instructed to deliver the message that Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour’s General Assembly bid “fuels tensions” and risks undermining Trump’s Gaza peace plan. A US official told The Times of Israel that the message had not actually been passed on to Ramallah because the Palestinian mission had not yet submitted its candidacy and it was not clear if it would. The machinery of pressure, in other words, was already in motion before the target had even moved.
The cable also said, “To be clear, we will hold the [Palestinian Authority] responsible if the Palestinian delegation does not withdraw its VPGA candidacy,” and added, “It would be unfortunate to have to revisit any available options.” The State Department responded with the usual bureaucratic fog: “We take seriously our obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement,” and, “Due to visa record confidentiality, we have no comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases.” The Palestinian mission to the UN declined to comment.
Who Pays for the Game
The people at the bottom of this hierarchy are the Palestinian delegation and the Palestinian Authority, which represents the Palestinian people at the United Nations, where the delegation is officially known as the State of Palestine. The Palestinian Authority is not a full member and has no vote in the 193-member General Assembly. It is an observer state, holding the same status as the Holy See (Vatican).
The liveblog said Mansour had already withdrawn his candidacy for the presidency of the General Assembly as a result of US lobbying in February, and that if elected to the lower-profile vice presidency, he could still preside over General Assembly sessions. It said, “Therefore, there is still a risk that the Palestinians could preside over GA sessions during UNGA81 unless they withdraw from the race,” and, “In a worst-case scenario, the next PGA might assist the Palestinians in presiding over high-profile sessions related to the Middle East or during UNGA81 high-level week.”
That is the shape of the system on display: a state with full power over visas and sanctions, a Palestinian delegation with observer status and no vote, and a UN process where even a vice presidency can become a battleground for control over who gets to speak and who gets shut out.
What They Call Procedure
The election of the UN General Assembly president and the 16 delegations that will serve as vice presidents will be held on June 2. The liveblog’s account shows the contest is not just about titles, but about access, visibility, and who gets to occupy the chair when the room is supposed to be speaking for the world.
Washington’s message, whether delivered or merely prepared, tied the Palestinian delegation’s candidacy to claims that it would “fuel tensions” and interfere with Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The State Department’s refusal to comment on specific cases leaves the public with the familiar architecture of power: sanctions lists, visa threats, diplomatic pressure, and carefully managed silence.
Meanwhile, the Treasury Department’s removal of Francesca Albanese from its sanctions list stands as another reminder that the same apparatus that punishes can also unpunish, all by administrative decree. The official website says the change has been made. The people affected are expected to live with it.