Faith Nyasuguta
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the tribunal’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Trump, 78, signed an executive order enforcing financial penalties and visa restrictions on ICC officials, employees, and their families. The decision comes after his recent White House meeting with Netanyahu, 75, where they discussed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and strategies for dealing with the Palestinian population.
The move follows the ICC’s controversial arrest warrants issued against Netanyahu and Gallant in November. The tribunal accused the two Israeli leaders of deliberately depriving Gaza’s civilian population of essential resources. In response, Israeli authorities announced plans to appeal the ruling, dismissing it as politically motivated.
Diplomatic Tensions
The ICC’s legal actions have triggered strong opposition from both the U.S. and Israel. Neither country is a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC in 2002, and neither recognizes the court’s jurisdiction.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan initially sought warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May last year, alongside Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Mohammed Deif. However, the Hamas leaders were later killed in the ongoing war.
Trump’s executive order denounced the ICC’s actions as illegitimate, arguing that the court was unfairly targeting the U.S. and its allies.
“The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States,” the order stated.
“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel.”
Trump Takes Unilateral Action
Prior to Trump’s executive order, Senate Democrats had blocked a similar bill that had already passed the House of Representatives. With legislative efforts stalled, Trump took matters into his own hands, reinforcing his long-standing commitment to defending Israel on the global stage.
This isn’t the first time Trump has acted against the ICC. During his first term, he sanctioned the tribunal over its investigations into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. Now, he has once again wielded executive power to counter what he views as overreach by the court.
If enforced, the ICC warrant means Netanyahu and Gallant could be arrested in any of the 124 nations that have ratified the Rome Statute, including major European countries such as Austria, the UK, and France.
Despite past disagreements, such as Netanyahu’s reaction to the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020, Trump and the Israeli leader appear to have reconciled.
“He’s done a great job, and we’ve been friends for a long time,” Trump said of Netanyahu during their recent meeting. “We do a great job also, and I think we have a combination that’s very unbeatable, actually.”
Netanyahu, in turn, praised Trump, calling him “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
In addition to sanctioning the ICC, Trump also signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Justice Department to establish a task force investigating alleged “anti-Christian bias” in the federal government.
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