Responding to the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) back in 2002, the United States Congress passed what became publicly known as The Hague Invasion Act, literally authorising the president of the US to invade The Hague, a Dutch city where the ICC is seated. The Act, formally known as the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, is designed to “protect” US military and other personnel against the ICC, in case any such person(s) become the subject of ICC incarceration for trial not only in the Dutch city but anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the Act provides protection to individuals from countries allied to the US, like Israel, for example.
The idea behind the Act was to provide cover and protection for US citizens while on official duties anywhere in the world and in case they become the subject of investigation by the Court with potential of interim jail time for trial. This was the first act by the government of the US – a superpower, international law preacher and presumed world democratic model for others – against a major world entity created for the sake of upholding the law, enhancing democracy and, above all, for accountability in criminal conducts against individuals. It is one of several actions taken by the US in its long war against international law.
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By passing that law, the US, instead of encouraging other states to join the Court, has been encouraging them to boycott it and disregard its legally binding decisions. In fact, the US has, so far, been the only country in the world to declare war on the ICC. Even Russia, considered by the Western courtiers as a rogue state and dictatorship under President Putin, only passed a law criminalising any dealings with the ICC in April 2023. The Russian law, in fact, is not as wide reaching as its US counterpart in terms of the kind of people it intends to protect against ICC measures.
It is not surprising, then, to see the US further target the ICC and its personnel when the Court’s Prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced, last May, that he is asking the judges to issues arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant. Both are sought for their crimes committed in the Gaza Strip and arrest warrants are expecting within weeks.
The first reaction of the US authorities came from the State Department in a statement issued on the same day that not only rejected Mr. Khan’s action but also the Court’s jurisdiction and even questioning its “troubling process questions”.
By doing this for the sake of Israel, the US stands out not only as a country ready to ignore international law but also ready to aid and abet Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza which has, so far, killed nearly 39,000 people, most of whom are children. The US not only provides weapons and financial aid lubricating the Israeli killing machine but also provides diplomatic and political protection for the murderous Israeli Defence Forces as they continue to destroy Gaza, making it uninhabitable.
On another international legal arena, the US is one of a handful of countries that stood before another world legal body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), this time to defend the indefensible – the Israeli brutal Occupation of Palestinian lands. Back in Feburary 2024, the US State Department’s legal advisor, Richard Visek, unashamedly told ICJ judges to not consider the case against the Israeli Occupation. Instead, he told the Court that such matters should be decided through negotiations between Israel and Palestinians—in complete contradiction with US positions on other conflicts, like Ukraine, where the US rejects any negotiations before all Russian troops leave Ukrainian territories.
This is the same US that lectures other countries about upholding international law for the sake of the law-based international system in which countries not only respect their international legal obligations but work to preserve international law and norms for the sake of world peace.
The US has also used all means available to its diplomatic machine to break international law and mock the norms governing international relations, including weakening the United Nations, which is supposed to represent both. For example, Washington has abused its veto power at the UN Security Council nearly 40 times since the UN was created to kill Council resolutions seen as critical of Israel, let alone condemning the apartheid state. Even in the context of the current Israeli genocide in Gaza, the US used its vote three times to veto three ceasefire draft resolutions presented by other UNSC member states and supported by the majority of 15-member body.
In terms of other UN institutions, the US’s one-sided policies have never stopped from paralysing them. Back in 2017, the US pulled out of the UNESCO for purely Israeli reasons. Despite being the force behind creating the organisation, the US believed, as is usually the case, the UN’s cultural arm is anti-Israeli. In fact, the world culture body harmed neither the US nor Israeli interests when it acted on the demand of its overwhelming majority member states who voted to admit the State of Palestine into their ranks, six years earlier.
While the world awaits the ICC’s expected arrest warrants against both Netanyahu and Gallant, the entire world knows only too well the wave of fury which will be coming from both the White House and the Congress. In fact, the US House of Representatives has already warned the Court against issuing such warrants, promising further measures if the judges in The Hague go ahead, as expected, and allow for the arrest of both Israeli criminals.
When other countries break international laws, the US would not only condemn them but severely punish them, like in the cases of North Korea, Russia and many others. All done in the name of upholding international law—without which the world becomes a jungle. Yet, the same US would enjoy the jungle if its own actions, or those of its beloved Israel, mock and violate the same laws.
Why should others, then, uphold the same international laws when the role model, the US, is breaking them almost every day?
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