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On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that imposes sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), asserting that the court “has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
The order accused the ICC of unlawfully claiming jurisdiction and initiating “preliminary investigations concerning personnel from the United States and some of its allies.” It also alleged that the ICC misused its authority by issuing arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who played a significant role in the Gaza conflict.
The ICC is the sole permanent international tribunal with the authority to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, acts of aggression, and war crimes. In issuing arrest warrants against high-ranking Israeli officials last year, the court stated it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe they were accountable for offenses such as employing starvation as a method of warfare, along with “murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
Last week, a Republican-led initiative in the Senate to impose sanctions on the court due to its arrest warrants against Israeli officials did not succeed.
Contributions to this report were made by Abigail Hauslohner, Sammy Westfall, and Bryan Pietsch.