Trump sanctions ICC for 'illegitimate' Israel, US probes

by Danny KEMP

U.S. President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the International Criminal Court for probes targeting America and its ally Israel, but the ICC on Friday vowed to continue providing "justice and hope" around the world.

Trump signed an executive order Thursday 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 ICC on Friday condemned the move, which it said sought to "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," it said in a statement.

The names of the individuals affected by the sanctions 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.

Israel's foreign minister applauded Trump on Friday over the sanctions, calling the court's actions against Israel illegitimate.

"I strongly commend @POTUS President Trump's executive order imposing sanctions on the so-called 'international criminal court'," Gideon Saar wrote on X, adding that the ICC's actions were "immoral and have no legal basis".

Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the court.

The EU warned the move was a threat to its independence.

"Sanctioning the ICC threatens the Court's independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole," Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU's 27 member states, wrote on X.

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.

- 'Criminal responsibility' -

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's 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.

Netanyahu has accused the court of anti-Semitism.

During his first term, Trump imposed financial sanctions and a visa ban on the ICC's then-prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and other senior officials and staff in 2020.

Describing it as a "kangaroo court," his then-administration made the move after Gambian-born Bensouda launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Afghanistan.

While his order at the time did not name Israel, Trump administration officials said they were also angered by Bensouda's opening of a probe into the situation in the Palestinian territories in 2019.

President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions soon after taking office in 2021.

Prosecutor Khan later effectively dropped the United States from the Afghan investigation and focused on the Taliban instead.

Biden strongly condemned the "outrageous" warrant against Netanyahu in November.

The US House passed a bill last month to sanction the ICC, but Senate Democrats blocked it last week, saying the bill could backfire on US allies and firms.

But Democrats have also expressed anger at the sanctions on Netanyahu.

© Agence France-Presse