Trump imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court that 'insults US and its allies'

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on February 6 imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of wrongfully prosecuting the United States and Israel, reports NBC News.

Photo: Milos Ruzicka | Dreamstime.com

The order imposes both financial sanctions and visa restrictions on unnamed ICC officials and their family members if they are found to have assisted investigations into U.S. citizens or their allies.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court drew bipartisan criticism when it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and several Hamas leaders. The Trump administration argued in its order that this created a “shameful moral equivalence.”

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The court said there was reason to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant were using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and deliberately targeting civilians in Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Israeli officials have rejected the allegations, calling them false and anti-Semitic.

An ICC spokesman criticized Trump's order, which aims to "impose sanctions on its officials and undermine the court's independent and impartial work."

“The Court stands firmly behind its staff and pledges to continue to deliver justice and hope to the millions of innocent victims of atrocities around the world, in all cases under its jurisdiction,” the spokesperson said. “We call on the 125 member states, civil society and all countries around the world to unite in defense of justice and fundamental human rights.”

The signing of the executive order on Thursday, February 6, was apparently timed to coincide with Netanyahu's visit to Washington, during which a meeting was held in the Oval Office on February 4.

“The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent that directly threatens current and former American personnel, including active military personnel, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest,” the executive order says.

As the 45th president, Trump said the International Criminal Court "has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, no authority" in the United States, and that the United States and Israel are not parties to the so-called Rome Statute, which created the court.

“The ICC was designed to be a court of last resort,” the order’s fact sheet says. “Both the United States and Israel have robust judicial systems and should never be subject to the ICC’s jurisdiction.”

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a bill to impose sanctions on the ICC, but it was blocked by Democrats in the Senate.

Neither Israel nor the United States recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and has no police force to enforce its warrants. Under the Rome Statute, signatory states are obliged to execute arrest warrants, regardless of the rank of the accused. However, most governments adhere to the international legal principle that heads of state are immune from prosecution in other countries’ courts.

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Let us recall that on March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is accused of illegally deporting and transferring children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia during the war. This, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, is classified as a war crime.

In addition to Putin, the ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights. She is also accused of forcibly removing Ukrainian children to Russia.

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