Trump administration imposes sanctions on ICC over Israel probe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — The White House announced sanctions Thursday on the International Criminal Court, the second time President Donald Trump has punished the court for conducting investigations he disagrees with.

Trump and Republicans in Congress had expressed anger after the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The move will have wide-reaching consequences for The Hague-based court.

The previous Trump administration sanctioned Khan’s predecessor as well. In 2020, the White House slapped sanctions on Fatou Bensouda and another staff member for their involvement in an investigation into whether U.S. military personnel committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden ended the sanctions shortly after coming into office in 2021.

Khan dropped the Afghanistan investigation over a lack of cooperation.

Many in The Hague had been preparing for such penalties. In June 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would force any president to issue sanctions against the court, but the bill was blocked by Democrats in the Senate. A similar bill passed the House again in January.

“The court has been subjected to attacks seeking to undermine its legitimacy and ability to administer justice and realize international law and fundamental rights; coercive measures, threats, pressure and acts of sabotage,” ICC President Tomoko Akane said in her opening address to the court’s annual meeting in December.

“Sanctions are meant to coerce the court into not doing its job,” Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, who focuses on international relations at University of Oxford, told Courthouse News Service at the time.

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