The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday condemned President Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the global tribunal.
Trump ordered the sanctions in response to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defense chief. Trump’s order imposes sanctions on ICC individuals and family members who are engaged in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute a “protected person” — to mean U.S. and Israeli citizens.
The Hague-based court said Trump’s sanctions harm “its independent and impartial judicial work.”
“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 ICC said in a statement.
“We call on our 125 States Parties, civil society and all nations of the world to stand united for justice and fundamental human rights.”
Any property or assets held in the U.S. by a sanctioned individual are blocked under Trump’s order and sanctioned individuals are barred from entering the U.S. The sanctions also appear to apply to family members, but it’s unclear the full scope.
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of using starvation as a weapon of war in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s more than 15-month war against Hamas.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for slain Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif as one of the figures responsible for planning the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza. Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 people and took 250 hostages during its October assault.
Critics of the court’s actions accuse it of overreach in its arrest warrants for the senior Israeli figures, saying the country is not a party to the court and that it has an independent judicial system that allows it to investigate itself. Critics further condemn equivocating between Israel, as a democracy, and Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., Israel and by the European Union.
