WASHINGTON — On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close US ally.
Neither the United States nor Israel are members of or recognize the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes stemming from his military response in Gaza following the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. The Israeli military’s response has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children.
The order signed by Trump accuses the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel,” the order states, adding that the court’s actions against both countries had set a “dangerous precedent”.
Trump’s action occurred while Netanyahu was visiting Washington. He and Trump spoke at the White House on Tuesday, and Netanyahu spent part of Thursday meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The order states that the US will impose “tangible and significant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions.” Actions may include seizing property and assets, as well as prohibiting ICC officials, employees, and relatives from entering the United States.
Human rights activists warned that sanctioning court officials would have a chilling effect and would be detrimental to US interests in other conflict zones where the court is investigating.
“Victims of human rights abuses around the world turn to the International Criminal Court when they have nowhere else to go, and President Trump’s executive order will make it harder for them to find justice,” said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project.
“The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone.”
According to Hogle, the order “is an attack on both accountability and free speech.”
“You can disagree with the court and the way it operates, but this is beyond the pale,” Sarah Yager, Human Rights Watch’s Washington director, said in an interview before the announcement.
The United States, like Israel, is not one of the court’s 124 members, and there have long been concerns that a “Global Court” of unelected judges could arbitrarily prosecute US officials. A 2002 law authorizes the Pentagon to free any American or US ally detained by the court.
In 2020, Trump sanctioned Fatou Bensouda, the predecessor of chief prosecutor Karim Khan, for opening an investigation into war crimes committed by all sides, including the United States, in Afghanistan.
However, under President Joe Biden, those sanctions were lifted, and the United States began to cooperate with the tribunal sporadically, particularly after Khan charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with war crimes in Ukraine in 2023.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., spearheaded the turnaround by organizing meetings in Washington, New York, and Europe between Khan and GOP lawmakers who have been harshly critical of the court.
Graham now claims Khan has betrayed him, and he has threatened to crush the court and the economy of any country that attempts to enforce the arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
“This is a rogue court.” “This is a kangaroo court,” Graham stated in a December interview. “There are instances where the court makes perfect sense. Russia is a failed state. People fall out of windows. But I never imagined they’d target Israel, which has one of the world’s most independent legal systems.
“The legal theory they’re using against Israel has no limits and we’re next,” according to him.
Biden described the warrants as an abomination, and Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, accused the court of having an antisemitic bias.
Any sanctions could cripple the court by making it difficult for its investigators to travel and jeopardizing US-developed technology to protect evidence. Last year, the court experienced a major cyberattack that prevented employees from accessing files for several weeks.
Some European countries are pushing back. In a statement issued late last year, the Netherlands urged other ICC members “to cooperate to mitigate the risks of these possible sanctions, so that the court can continue to carry out its work and fulfil its mandate.”
The United States’ relationship with the ICC is complicated. The United States took part in the negotiations that resulted in the adoption of the Rome Statute, which established the court as a last resort for prosecuting the world’s worst atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide — if individual governments did not act.
The United States voted against the Rome Statute in 1998. In 2000, then-US President Bill Clinton signed the statute but did not submit it to the US Senate for ratification.
When George W. Bush took office in 2001, he effectively canceled the US signature and launched a campaign to persuade countries to enter bilateral agreements not to hand over Americans to the ICC.
