Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned two judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing them of illegitimately targeting Israel.
The ICC has continued to engage in politicized actions targeting Israel, which set a dangerous precedent for all nations. We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction,” Rubio said in a statement. “Our message to the Court has been clear: the United States and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute and therefore reject the ICC’s jurisdiction. We will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC’s lawfare and overreach.”
The action aligns with President Trump’s February executive order calling for sanctions on the ICC. “The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest,” the order says. “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.”
Sanctions were previously placed on United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese after she engaged in “shameful efforts to prompt [the International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
Albanese, appointed in 2022 as the Special Rapporteur on the “occupied Palestinian territories,” has “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West,” a press statement on the matter reads. The statement adds that Albanese has written “threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality, making extreme and unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue investigations and prosecutions of these companies and their executives.”
