In another sweeping move, the US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order this week to sanction the International Criminal Court for targeting the United States and its allies, such as Israel, a White House official said.
The order will place financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies, said the official. The move by Trump comes after U.S. Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to sanction the ICC in protest at its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Netanyahu has recently been on a visit to the US and Trump’s actions seem to come after several rounds of discussion with the Israeli Prime Minister.
The ICC had come under severe scrutiny by Washington since it issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu, A White House memo circulated on Thursday accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.
Trump’s executive order said the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.
“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” the order said.
In a post on X on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he “strongly” commended Trump’s executive order. He claimed the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have no legal basis”, accusing the court of not operating “in accordance with international law”.
What is the ICC
The ICC or the International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for purported international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
The ICC is distinct from the International Court of Justice, an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states. Established in 2002 pursuant to the multilateral Rome Statute, the ICC has faced a number of criticisms. Some governments have refused to recognize the court’s assertion of jurisdiction, with other civil groups also accusing the court of bias, Eurocentrism and racism. Others have also questioned the effectiveness of the court as a means of upholding international law.
The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals. Although the United States, China, Russia and Israel are not its members.
Now the Court is coming under public attack from the President of the United States. The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible U.S. sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.
In December, the court’s president, judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would “rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardise its very existence.”
This is the second time the court has faced U.S. retaliation as a result of its work. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.
Response from the ICC
Meanwhile the International Criminal Court (ICC) has vowed to continue its judicial work after US President Donald Trump signed an order to impose sanctions on its staff.
The ICC said it “stands firmly” by its personnel and the order seeks to harm its “independent and impartial” work. In its statement, it said: “The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an executive order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work.
“The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it,” it added.
In recent years, the court has also issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Taliban leaders for “persecuting Afghan girls and women” and Myanmar’s military leader for alleged crimes against the Rohingyas.
Since taking office Trump has been passing strong executive orders, especially looking to delink USA from international bodies, the withdrawal from WHO, the bid to severely cut down on USAID as well as now targeting the ICC. Trump has long held the view that international bodies act more as a hindrance stuttering the work of the US while draining its funds.
Although the US is not part of the ICC the organization has a huge international presence in over 120 countries. Trump is looking to cut down on the powers and authorities of the ICC, by such moves the court and its linked individuals will be hard pressed to rethink their moves, especially those aimed at US and its allies.