Bernd Debusmann Jr
BBC News, White House
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Trump previously sanctioned ICC officials during his first term in office in 2020.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has vowed to continue its judicial work after US President Donald Trump signed an order to impose sanctions on its staff.
The ICC said it “stands firmly” by its personnel and the order seeks to harm its “independent and impartial” work.
Trump’s order accuses it of “illegitimate and baseless actions”, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies. The ICC also issued a warrant for a Hamas commander.
The ICC is a global court, although the US and Israel are not members, with the power to bring prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
In its statement, it said: “The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an executive order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and 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,” it added.
In recent years, it has also issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Taliban leaders for “persecuting Afghan girls and women” and Myanmar’s military leader for crimes against the Rohingya Muslims.
The US and Israel are not members of the court but more than 120 countries are, including the UK and many European nations.
Trump signed the measure as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Washington.
The sanctions place financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.
Judges at the court said there were “reasonable grounds” that Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif of Hamas bore “criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Deif’s death in an Israeli airstrike last year has since been confirmed by Hamas.
Reacting to Trump’s order, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said on X that the ICC “must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity”.
“Europe will always stand for justice and the respect of international law,” she said.
The Netherlands, which hosts the court, said it “regrets” Trump’s order.
“The court’s work is essential in the fight against impunity,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said on X.
International Criminal Court: What is the ICC and what does it do?A White House memo circulated on Thursday accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.
Trump’s executive order said the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.
“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,” the order said.
In a post on X on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he “strongly” commended Trump’s executive order.
He claimed the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have no legal basis”, accusing the court of not operating “in accordance with international law”.
Reuters
The US has repeatedly rejected any jurisdiction by the body over American officials or citizens, and has accused the ICC of placing constraints on Israel’s right to self-defence, while ignoring Iran and anti-Israel groups.
While the US is not a member of the ICC, the former clerk to the court’s first chief prosecutor warned the sanctions could have “a profound practical impact” on its operations.
“The sanctions… do have the potential of freezing property and assets, as well as suspending entry into the United States of ICC officials and their immediate family members,” Zachary Kaufman told the BBC World Service.
In his first term in office in 2020, Trump imposed sanctions on ICC officials who were investigating whether US forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
This included a travel ban and asset freezes against former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden’s administration.
Last month, the US House of Representatives voted to sanction the ICC, but the bill foundered in the Senate.
In response to efforts to what they described as attempts to challenge the ICC’s authority, nine nations – including South Africa and Malaysia – launched the ‘Hague Group’ last month in an effort to defend the court and its rulings.
Trump’s executive order said that “both nations [the US and Israel] are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war”.
Can Trump really take ownership of Gaza?
During his last weeks in office, President Biden also criticised the ICC’s warrant for Netanyahu, calling the move “outrageous” and saying there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
The ICC prosecutor’s case against Netanyahu and Gallant found reasonable grounds to believe that they “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
It also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”.
Trump’s signing of his latest executive order follows his announcement during a joint press conference with the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday about a plan for the US to “take over” Gaza, resettle its Palestinian population and turn the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
After Arab leaders and the UN condemned the idea, the US president restated it on his Truth Social social media platform on Thursday.
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