The International Criminal Court on Friday, February 7, called on its member states to stand up against sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump, saying the move was an attempt to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work.”
The White House issued the executive order on Thursday in response to what it called “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” It was referring to the arrest warrant the ICC issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The Hague-based court said it “condemns” the move. “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,” the court 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,” it said.
Trump signed an executive order saying the court in The Hague had “abused its power” by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held talks with the US president on Tuesday. He ordered asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their family members, along with anyone deemed to have helped the court’s investigations.
The names of the individuals were not immediately released, but previous US sanctions under Trump had targeted the court’s prosecutor.
Trump’s order said the tribunal had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza.
‘Essential’ work
Human rights groups have criticized the decision. “US sanctions against ICC officials would be a gift to those around the globe responsible for mass atrocities. Sanctions are for human rights violators, not those working to hold rights abusers to account,” Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Trump’s executive order borrows a page out of Russia’s playbook, which has sought to obstruct the court’s work through arrest warrants against its judges and prosecutor,” Evenson said.
The Netherlands, the court’s host country, said it “regrets” Trump’s sanctions order. “The court’s work is essential in the fight against impunity,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said on X.
European Council chief Antonio Costa on Friday warned the sanctions were a threat to the wider judicial system. “Sanctioning the ICC threatens the Court’s independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole,” Costa, who heads the body representing the EU’s 27 member states, wrote on X.
Israel praised Trump for imposing the sanctions. “I strongly commend @POTUS President Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the so-called ‘international criminal court’,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X, adding the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have no legal basis.”
The sanctions are a show of support after Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, during which Trump unveiled a plan for the United States to “take over” Gaza and move Palestinians to other Middle Eastern countries. The UN and legal experts have said Trump’s plan would be illegal under international law. Forcible displacement is also a crime under the ICC’s governing Rome Statute.
Following a request by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, judges issued arrest warrants on November 21 for Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif – whom Israel says is dead.
The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare during the Gaza war, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
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