On Thursday, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for conducting “illegitimate and baseless” investigations targeting the United States and its ally Israel.
Trump signed an executive order stating that the ICC in The Hague had “abused its power” by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had met with Trump earlier in the week.
The executive order mandates asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees, their families, and anyone who assisted in the court’s investigations.
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The names of the individuals affected by the sanctions were not immediately disclosed, but previous sanctions under Trump had targeted the ICC’s prosecutor.
The order condemned the ICC for conducting investigations into alleged war crimes by US military personnel in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza. Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC.
The Netherlands, the country where the ICC is based, expressed regret over the sanctions, with Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp stating that the court’s work is crucial in combating impunity.
This move follows Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, where Trump unveiled a controversial plan to “take over” Gaza and relocate Palestinians to other Middle Eastern nations. Legal experts and the UN have stated that Trump’s plan would violate international law, as forcible displacement is a crime under the ICC’s Rome Statute.
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, citing reasonable grounds to believe they were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict.
Trump previously imposed sanctions on the ICC during his first term, particularly against the court’s then-prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, for investigating allegations of war crimes by US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Although President Joe Biden lifted these sanctions in 2021, the US House passed a bill last month to reinstate sanctions, though Senate Democrats blocked it.
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