Trump sanctions ICC over Netanyahu warrant
AMSTERDAM—The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday said it condemned the decision by US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on its staff.
Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.
The move was a protest against the court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and came as the Israeli leader was visiting Washington.
The ICC said the order would undermine its judicial work and urged its 125 member states “to stand united” for justice and human rights.
“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,” the court said.
The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
It can prosecute crimes committed by nationals of member states or on the territory of member states by other actors.
Not members
The United States and close ally Israel are not ICC member states. Also not members are China and Russia.
Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions against the ICC.
The court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, as well as a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas over the war in the Gaza Strip.
It was unclear how quickly the United States would announce names of people sanctioned.
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.
Trump signed the executive order after US Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation setting up a sanctions regime targeting the war crimes court.
Shield
The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible US 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 jeopardize its very existence.”
Russia has also taken aim at the court. In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Russia has banned entry to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan and placed him and two ICC judges on its wanted list.
