Useful information
Prime News delivers timely, accurate news and insights on global events, politics, business, and technology
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has slapped the sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the body of attacking Israel and the United States.
In an executive order issued on Thursday night, Trump described the Court as “illegitimate” and placed restrictions of financial and American visa to the CPI staff and any person who helped the CPI investigations against the United States and their Allies
Trump said the arrest orders issued by the ICC in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza, were “without foundation.” However, analysts have described their order of sanctions as “an assault on the rule of law.”
This is what we know so far:
What does the executive order say?
Trump’s Executive order He affirmed that the ICC has “abused its power” by issuing arrest orders for Netanyahu and Gallant and declared that the Hague Court has taken “illegitimate” actions against the United States and its “close ally” Israel.
Trump’s order, which coincides with Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, authorizes sanctions and restrictions such as freezing of assets and prohibitions of travel against CPI officials who seek to process citizens and “allies” American.
The White House defined Israel as “a democratic state whose army strictly adheres to the laws of war.”
“The actions taken by the International Criminal Court against Israel and the United States establish a dangerous precedent,” he continued, accusing the CPI of “malignant behavior that threatens to violate US sovereignty and undermine national security and foreign policy.”
Neither the United States nor Israel are signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty established by the ICC in 2002.
How did the American administration prior to arrest orders respond?
In November, the then president of the United States, Joe Biden, described the arrest warrant of the CPI for “scandalous” Netyahu.
In addition to the arrest orders for Netanyahu and Gallant, the CPI also issued an arrest warrant for the Mohammed Al-Masri military commander, known as Mohammed Deif, “for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed” in Israel on October 7, 2023 when Hamas led assaults in advanced positions and army peoples in southern Israel in which 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 were taken captive to Gaza.
In a statement, Biden said: “Whatever the ICC that may imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas. We will always be with Israel against threats to your safety. “
Israel said he killed Deif in July in southern Gaza. Hamas confirmed his death last week. The CPI accused him along with two other Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who have also been killed.
On January 9, the United States House of Representatives approved legislation that would sanction the ICC in a 243-140 vote.
“The United States is approving this law because a kangaroo court is seeking to arrest the prime minister of our great Israel ally,” said representative Brian Mast, republican president of the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, in a speech before the vote.
The only legislators who did not support the bill were the Democrats. But 45 party members voted for it. On January 28, the United States Senate blocked legislation.
How will the sanctions work?
Sanctioned people can be denied entry into the United States. They could also freeze their assets in the United States and are denied financial treatment with “American people” and entities, including banks. Entities outside the United States could also lose access to the US financial system. If they violate the sanctions.
The violations of the sanctions can result in fines and imprisonment.
Trump’s executive order is addressed to the CPI personnel responsible for the “transgressions” of the court. The sanctions can also be applied to staff members, as well as those who help with the research of the ICC.
The names of individuals attacked by sanctions have not been published. But the previous sanctions against the CPI, issued in 2020 during Trump’s first mandate, were aimed at the main prosecutor and an assistant who conducted a CPI investigation into alleged war crimes by US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Will the sanctions quench the investigations of the ICC on Israeli war crimes?
Playing CPI officials under sanctions could hinder the ongoing investigations by making it difficult to travel and access funds. Trump’s actions also run the risk of discrediting international efforts to bring war criminals to justice.
Yossi Mekelberg, professor and analyst at Israel in Chatham House, based in London, told Al Jazeera: “This is an attempt to intimidate the ICC as an organization and those who work for it.” He added that the executive order could “scare people to cooperate with the ICC.”
Saul Takahashi, a professor of International Human Rights Law at Osaka Jagakuin University in Japan, the indirect implications of Trump’s measure “can be very serious.”
“The Executive Order speaks not only of sanctioning the real members of the CPI staff … but also the people cooperating with the CPI in the investigation into Israeli officials,” he said. “We are talking about human rights activists, victims, etc. That type of people can be excluded from the United States or face sanctions.”
Neve Gordon, Professor of Law at the University of London of Queen Mary and member of the Board of the International State Crime initiative, said they do not expect the “extremely brave” staff of the ICC backward from their investigations.
Gordon told Al Jazeera: “Given its resistance history (of the CPI staff members) and their willingness to stand up and tell the truth to power to maintain the law despite the years of pressure, I doubt that This executive order will lean. “
Will this order hinder the operation of the ICC?
In a statement published on Friday, the CPI said that Trump’s executive order seeks to “damage his independent and impartial judicial work”, but promised to “continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities worldwide.”
“We call on our 125 states, civil society and all the nations of the world that join the fundamental justice and human rights,” he added.
International financial institutions could refrain from working with the court as a result of sanctions.
“Bets could not be higher,” Gordon said. “Although the sanctions are aimed at the CPI and its independent and impartial judicial work, they actually constitute a direct attack on the international legal order after World War II.
“By attacking the only international legal institution that has the capacity to comply with the international legal regime after World War II, the Executive Order in effect undermines the International Humanitarian Law, including four Geneva Conventions of 1949, the Genocide Convention of 1951 and a series of international conventions related to the laws of war and human rights.
“It is an assault on the rule of law.”
Mekelberg said Trump’s measure sends a “chilling message to other international organs that if they do not comply with the United States, they could suffer.”
However, Takahashi said that the direct impact of US sanctions on the CPI would probably be “limited.”
The court “is not in the United States. It is in The Hague in the Netherlands,” Takahashi told Al Jazeera, adding that only CPI staff with US assets was at risk.
What have been reactions to order so far?
Trump’s executive order has caused alarm expressions around the world. The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said the sanctions “undermine the International Criminal Justice System as a whole.”
Sanction the CPI threatens the independence of the court and undermines the International Criminal Justice System as a whole. https://t.co/zk0lsnb1p0
– Antonio Costa (@EucoPresident) February 7, 2025
The Netherlands said that “regrets” the order, declaring that the work of the Court is “essential in the fight against impunity.” Amnesty International labeled the “reckless” movement.
For his part, Israel’s prime minister applauded Trump’s measure. In X, Netanyahu aware: “Thank you, President Trump, for his bold executive order of ICC. He will defend the United States and Israel of the Anti -American and Anti -Semitic Corrupt Court. “
Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister:
Thanks, President Trump, for his bold executive order of ICC. It will defend the United States and Israel of the Anti -American and Anti -Semitic Corrupt Court that has no jurisdiction or basis to participate in the law against us.– Prime Minister of Israel (@israelipm) February 7, 2025
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying He “strongly” praised Trump’s executive order.
“The CPI aggressively pursues Israel’s elected leaders, the only democracy in the Middle East,” Saar wrote in X. “The CPI has no jurisdiction: Israel and the United States are not parties in the Rome Statute and they are not members of the ICC of the ICC.
