The International Criminal Court has issued a stern rebuke after its officials had sanctions imposed on them by newly elected US President Donald Trump for having issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The arrest warrant by the court follows a ruling in which judges deemed there to be “reasonable grounds” to indicate that Netanyahu and Gallant bear “criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity”. The ICC is continuing to consider whether Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide.
Trump’s executive order, issuing these sanctions, however claimed that the court’s arrest warrant “set a dangerous precent” and “threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States” and “undermines” the national security and foreign policy of the US and its allies. During Trump’s first administration he had imposed similar sanctions on ICC officials’ investigation whether US forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
The ICC’s statement read:
"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 ICC has worked on a range of cases in recent years including, issuing 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 UK and European Union have issued statements stressing support for the independence of the ICC.
The executive orders from the US follow an announced plan by US President Trump to resettle the remaining Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring countries. The plan has been widely panned by the international community as essentially amounting to ethnic cleansing.
Read more here.
