Trump signs executive order to sanction ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for targeting the United States and its ally Israel.
The order places financial and visa sanctions on unnamed individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies.
The order comes after a visit to the White House by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza since October 2023.
In the executive order, Trump wrote that the ICC "has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel," citing the arrest warrants issued in November for Netanyahu and his then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
"The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC," the order read.
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The European Union has vowed to support the court from the impact of sanctions, but the details of such response have yet to be announced.
"The executive order could represent a serious challenge to the work of the ICC with the risks of affecting ongoing investigations and proceedings, including as regards Ukraine, impacting years of efforts to ensure accountability around the world," an EU spokesperson told Middle East Eye.
"The EU will be monitoring the implications of the executive order and will assess possible further steps."
Experts have previously suggested that several measures can be taken to shield the ICC from the effect of sanctions, including the Blocking Statue, a regulation that aims to protect EU companies and individuals from the effects of extraterritorial sanctions imposed by third countries.
The ICC can also bring charges of obstruction of justice against Trump, under Article 70 of the Rome Statute.
Adam Keith, Director for Accountability at Human Rights First and former State Department official, denounced the order, saying: “This is an appalling misuse of sanctions and an affront to the survivors of war crimes around the world."
“None of the ICC’s officials or the witnesses who have engaged with it should face sanctions for investigating war crimes, and US citizens, companies, and close allies should not have to risk fines or criminal charges for supporting the court's essential work," he told MEE.
'This is an appalling misuse of sanctions and an affront to the survivors of war crimes around the world'
- Adam Keith, Human Rights First
In a short reaction on Friday, the ICC condemned the order as an attempt 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, in all Situations before it,” a statement by the court read.
The first Trump administration imposed sanctions on the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and her deputy in 2020 when the court investigated alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan. This time, the sanctions are linked to the court's investigation into Israel.
Existential threat
Trump's 2020 sanctions were reversed under the presidency of Joe Biden, who conditionally backed ICC investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
On his first day back in the Oval Office last month, Trump reversed Biden’s ending of the 2020 sanctions.
The US is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, and has had a rocky relationship with the court since its establishment in 2002.
The ICC, based in The Hague, is the world's first permanent international criminal court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
Netanyahu is the first western-backed state leader to be the subject of an arrest warrant by the court.
“In Ukraine, Sudan, and other countries around the world, the ICC advances the US interest in ensuring that people who commit war crimes face a measure of accountability," Keith said. "Rather than attacking the court, the US government should urge Israeli officials to credibly investigate the allegations that are before it.”
Meanwhile, Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said the order is "vindictive" and “suggests that President Trump endorses the Israeli government’s crimes and is embracing impunity.”
'These measures would rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases and jeopardise its very existence'
- Tomoko Akane, ICC President
Callamard said the sanctions will harm the interests of victims in countries where the court is investigating atrocities, not only in Palestine but also in Sudan, Libya, the Philippines, Ukraine and Venezuela.
“Governments around the world and regional organisations must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of President Trump’s sanctions. Through collective and concerted actions, ICC member states can protect the Court and its staff. Urgent action is needed, like never before.”
The court’s president Tomoko Akane warned in December against the possible sanctions, saying they represent an existential threat to the world's permanent criminal justice institution.
“The Court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions (…) as if it was a terrorist organisation,” she said. “These measures would rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases and jeopardise its very existence.”
Senate Democrats in January blocked a House bill that could have led to a legislation to sanction the ICC. But Trump has the authority to issue an executive order without the need for a legislation.
"Absent some kind of strong plan, the sanctions could severely disrupt the Court’s work,” Todd Buchwald, the former United States ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, told MEE in January.
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