US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on financial sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigations against the United States and its allies, including Israel, Fox News reports. The ICC has “committed unlawful and unjustified acts” against the U.S. and Israel, the text of the executive order reads.
“The ICC asserted jurisdiction without lawful basis and opened preliminary investigations against personnel of the United States and some of its allies, including Israel, and further abused its power by issuing unwarranted arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant,” the document said.
It also emphasized that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the US or Israel because neither country is a party to the Rome Statute or a member of the court.
“Neither country has ever recognized the jurisdiction of the ICC, and both countries are thriving democracies with armies that strictly adhere to the laws of war,” the text said.
The document imposes financial sanctions and visa restrictions on court officials who support ICC investigations against US citizens and allies, as well as family members of those individuals.
The US will impose significant restrictive measures on those responsible for “violations of the ICC.” Measures may include, but are not limited to, blocking property, assets, and prohibiting ICC members, as well as their families, from entering the US.
ICC actions infringe on U.S. sovereignty and undermine critical national security and foreign policy work of the U.S. government and Washington’s allies, including Israel, the executive order said.
Trump timed the sanctions to coincide with the visit of Netanyahu, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant in the fall, NBC wrote. The Israeli prime minister visited the U.S. on Feb. 4. Tel Aviv called the warrant decision part of a total disinformation campaign with anti-Semitic overtones.
Netanyahu and Galant are suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes, both deny the claims.
A source of ICC officials spoke to The Guardian and suggested that the sanctions would be used to shut down the court, “to destroy it, not just to tie its hands.”
The sanctions would jeopardize the ICC’s access to banking and payment systems, IT infrastructure, and prevent U.S.-based companies from doing business with the court or conducting the court’s transactions. Among the main problems is the ICC’s reliance on U.S.-based Microsoft to help modernize the court’s IT systems. Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform is so critical that the publication’s sources predict the court’s operations will be paralyzed.
“We essentially store all our evidence in the cloud,” one of the interlocutors explained to the publication.
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