Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, was served with legal papers during a lecture she was giving in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday, confirmed by South Africa’s Justice and Constitutional Development Ministry.
Albanese was giving the 23rd Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture. Previous honorees include former US President Barack Obama, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai, among many others.
During her lecture, she called for a complete boycott and arms embargo on Israel. Following the lecture at the Johannesburg-based Sandton Convention Center, a foreign subject approached Albanese to present her with court papers, according to South African media reports. Further, she declined to comment following the reception of documents.
According to claims from the Justice and Constitutional Development Ministry, neither the minister nor the director-general was aware of what was approved, following a request made by the plaintiffs, the Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, and Christians for Israel, USA.
However, the documentation for authorization of service was shared via X/Twitter by Mark Goldfeder, Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC), which is involved with the legal proceedings.
Following an inquiry from The Jerusalem Post, Goldfeder discussed Albanese’s intensified efforts against companies with economic ties to Israel, starting in spring 2025. “Albanese accused these entities and their executives, first privately in direct letters and then publicly in a published report, of being complicit in all manner of evil, immoral war crimes and crimes against humanity through their support of Israel,” Goldfeder told the Post.
“In her report, she threatened the companies and their executives with dire consequences, including boycott, divestment, and sanctions, and prosecution for these imagined crimes by international and national courts,” he stated, adding, “Those she accused and threatened included faith charities based in the US.
Goldfeder stated that on September 8, the NJAC “filed a complaint against Albanese in the District Court of Colorado on behalf of two Christian Zionist organizations Albanese attacked – Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and Christians for Israel USA – for defamation, trade libel, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.”
He added that she had been served via email as well as at her office. “On October 25, 2025, while Albanese was in South Africa to give the 23rd Nelson Mandela Foundation Annual Lecture, NJAC served her pursuant to Section 40 of the South African Superior Courts Act.
“Shockingly, rather than aiding NJAC’s process servers, including a sheriff, in carrying out service pursuant to the authorization they had received from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, South African government officials at the lecture instead aided Albanese’s attempts to evade service,” he explained to the Post.
“These officials tried to prevent the process servers from physically reaching Albanese by placing them in a separate room at the lecture hall,” he added. “The process servers were then given a phone to speak with an intermediary of Albanese’s, while Albanese could be heard directing the responses in the background, who, in Albanese’s name, told the process servers that she refused service and would always refuse service at any and every attempt.
“When the process servers tried to leave the papers with or near Albanese, they were threatened with arrest, and the sheriff was warned that he would be fired.”
In response, NJAC released a statement condemning Albanese for hiding from the consequences of her words. “Albanese accuses American Christian Zionists of war crimes and threatens them with legal retribution but hides when faced with service of a complaint in a civil suit,” the statement read. “Albanese’s cowardly – and failed – attempts to duck service, and the corrupt assistance in this that she received from the South African government, is an affront to the US justice system. To Albanese, we say: ‘Stop hiding. We’ll see you in court.’”
On July 9, the United States sanctioned Italian citizen Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories. Her US-based assets were frozen, dollar transactions were blocked, and she was barred from entering the country. The decision was issued under Executive Order 14203.
Rubio accuses Albanese of 'spewing unabashed antisemitism'
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Albanese of “spewing unabashed antisemitism, expressing support for terrorism, and showing open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West.”
Albanese dismissed the sanctions as “mafia-style intimidation techniques” in an interview with The Guardian and later described them as “obscene” when speaking to Al Jazeera. She claimed she was being punished for calling out what she described as “genocide in Gaza.”
The Post has reached out to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the hosts of the lecture, as well as to South Africa’s DOJ/CD, for comment, but has not yet received a response.
Elina Bardach-Yalov contributed to this report.