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US President Donald Trump has slapped sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), accused of attacking Israel and the United States.
In an executive order issued late on Thursday, Trump described the court as “illegal” and has placed financial visa restrictions on the international criminal court staff and anyone who helps the International Criminal Court investigations against the United States and its allies.
Trump said that the arrest orders issued by the International Criminal Court in November to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Secretary Joe Galent, accused of war crimes in Gaza, “are baseless.” However, analysts have described his order as “an attack on the rule of law.”
This is what we know so far:
What does the executive matter say?
Trump Executive order He claimed that the International Criminal Court “offended its authority” to issue arrest orders in favor of Netanyahu and Callant and stated that the court, which is based in The Hague, has taken “illegal” measures against the United States and its “near ally” Israel.
Trump’s order, which coincides with Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, authorizes sanctions and restrictions such as freezing assets and traveling against International Criminal Court officials who are looking to prosecute American citizens and “allied”.
The White House defined Israel as “a democratic state whose army is strictly committed to the laws of war.”
“The measures taken by the International Criminal Court against Israel and the United States have developed a dangerous precedent,” and continued, accusing the International Criminal Court of “the malicious behavior that threatens to violate American sovereignty and undermine national security and foreign policy.”
Neither the United States nor Israel is the signers of the Rome Law, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court in 2002.
How did the previous American administration respond to arrest orders?
In November, then the US President and Foundation, Joe Biden, described the arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court in favor of Netanyahu, “outrageous”.
In addition to the orders of Netanyahu and Callant, the International Criminal Court also issued an arrest warrant for the Hamas military commander, Muhammad Al -Massari, known as Muhammad Dave, “for the alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed” in Israel on October 7, 2023 when Hamas led the attacks on the outposts of the army and villages in Southern Israel, in which 1139 people were killed and more than 200 prisoners were taken in Gaza.
In a statement, Biden said: “Whatever the International Criminal Court, there is no equation – nothing – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Israel said it killed Dave in July in southern Gaza. Hamas confirmed his death last week. It was directed by the International Criminal Court, along with two Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Hani – both were also killed.
On January 9, the US House of Representatives issued legislation that would punish the International Criminal Court in a vote 243-140.
“America is going through this law because the Kangaroo Court seeks to arrest the Prime Minister of our great ally Israel,” said actor Brian Mast, the Republican President of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, in a speech before the vote.
The only lawmakers who have not supported the bill are Democrats. But 45 party members voted in his favor. On January 28, the US Senate prevented legislation.
How will the penalties work?
Individuals who are approved can be rejected from entering the United States. They can also freeze their assets in the United States and deprive them of financial transactions with “American people” and entities, including banks. Entities outside the United States can lose access to the US financial system if the sanctions are violated.
Violations of penalties can lead to fines and imprisonment.
Trump’s executive order targets the international criminal court staff responsible for the “excesses” of the court. Penalties can also be applied to employee family members as well as those who help in the international criminal court investigations.
The names of the target individuals have not been launched with the penalties. But the previous penalties against the International Criminal Court – issued in 2020 during the first period of Trump – were aimed at the chief public prosecutor and an assistant who investigated the alleged war crimes by US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Will the sanctions be strangled by ICC investigations into Israeli war crimes?
The status of ICC officials under penalties may impede continuous investigations by making them more difficult for them to travel and reach money. Trump’s actions are also risked to appoint international efforts to bring war criminals to justice.
“This is an attempt to intimidate the International Criminal Court as an institution and those who work for it,” said Jossi Miclberg, a London -based Chatham House professor and analyst, told Al -Jazeera. He added that the executive order can “frighten people from cooperating with the International Criminal Court.”
Saul Takahashi, a professor of international human rights law at the University of Osaka Jojakoen in Japan, said the island is the indirect effects of Trump’s move “can be very dangerous.”
He said: “The executive order speaks not only the penalties for actual employees in the International Criminal Court … but also the people who cooperate with the International Criminal Court in investigating Israeli officials.” “We are talking about human rights activists, victims, etc.. These people may be closed from the United States or facing sanctions.”
Nev Gordon, a law professor at the University of Queen Mary in London and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Crime Initiative of the State, said it was not expected that “very courageous courage” employees will decline from their investigations.
Gordon told Al -Jazeera.
Will this request hinder the performance of the International Criminal Court?
In a statement published on Friday, the International Criminal Court said that Trump’s executive order is seeking to “harm his independent and defeated judicial work”, but he pledged to “continue to provide justice and hope for millions of innocent victims all over the world.”
He added: “We call for 125 states from the states, civil society and all countries of the world to stand united for justice and basic human rights.”
International financial institutions can refrain from working with the court as a result of the penalties.
“The risks could not be higher,” Gordon said. “Although the sanctions are aimed at the International Criminal Court and its independent and independent judicial work, they actually constitute a direct attack on the international post -war legal system.
“By targeting the only international legal institution that has an enforcement capacity related to the post -World War II legal system, the executive thing is in fact undermining international humanitarian law, including in 1949, Geneva Conferences, the 1951 genocide agreement and a series of international conferences in Concerning the laws of war and human rights.
“It is an attack on the rule of law.”
Mekelberg said that Trump’s move sends “a chilling message to other international members that if it does not comply with the United States, he may suffer.”
However, Takahashi said that the direct impact of US sanctions on the International Criminal Court would likely be “limited”.
“Not in the United States. Takahashi told Al Jazerera, adding that the international criminal court staff with the US origins were in danger.
What were the reactions, respectively?
Trump’s CEO has sparked expressions of warning from all over the world. European Council President Antonio Costa said the sanctions “undermine the international criminal justice system as a whole.”
The punishment for the International Criminal Court threatens the independence of the court and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole.
– António Costa (EUCOPRESIDENT) February 7, 2025
The Netherlands said it “regrets” the matter, declaring that the work of the court “is necessary in combating impunity.” Amnesty International described the “reckless” step.
For his part, Prime Minister in Israel praised Trump. On x, Netanyahu to publish: “Thank you, President Trump, for your executive affairs for the bold bold. You will defend America and Israel from the anti -United States court and the anti -Semitic to Semitism.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
Thank you, President Trump, for your executive matter of the bold crime. It will defend America and Israel from an anti -America court and the corrupt anti -contract that has no jurisdiction or the basis for engaging in Lawfare against us.– Israeli Prime Minister (Israelipm) February 7, 2025
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar He said He praised Trump’s executive order to Trump.
Sar wrote about Saar on X. They flourish democracies with armies that strictly abide by international law. “
