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The International Criminal Court is a body set up back in 2002 by the Rome Statute, and purportedly addresses “genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes” and more.
Case are referred to the body by the United Nations Security Council although the ICC is separate from that organization’s Court of Justice.
The United States never has been part of the group, nor recognized that it has any authority over Americans.
Nevertheless, the group repeatedly has made such threats.
And now the United States is responding, with a wave of sanctions against the organization itself, not just individual members whose travel and access to resources previously had been limited at times.
A report posted by the Washington Examiner said, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision in a Friday address, declaring that the U.S. will restrict international transactions with the court and seek to isolate it both materially and politically. It is the first round of sanctions directed specifically at the ICC, rather than at a judge or official within the organization.”
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us. Because our message is clear: the United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC […] Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said. “And we expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American servicemembers for their defense, to rein in this rogue court.”
Rubio called the “fake” court a “rogue” group conceived and run by “globalist” so-called “experts.”
“They want the International Criminal Court to do more — including the prosecution of American citizens and servicemembers who are defending their country,” he said. “They want to prosecute Border Patrol agents that are protecting our nation’s borders, and they want to prosecute our elected leaders that are ensuring our national security. They want more power, and they want it at the expense of our sovereignty as a nation. And President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” he said.
State Department sanctions carry significant authority worldwide, as they would prevent U.S. financial institutions from engaging with the subject. That means the ICC’s ability to bank, use credit cards or even pay bills is affected.
Previously, the State Department sanctioned ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese legal scholar, for having “directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.” Another target was ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, a Senegalese national.
Further, the report said, “ICC judges Kimberly Prost from Canada, Reine Alapini-Gansou from Benin, and Solomy Balungi Bossa from Uganda jointly filed a lawsuit in June seeking immediate relief from sanctions imposed by the State and Treasury Departments for their activities related to the court. The judges described the effects of the sanctions a ‘financial death penalty.'”
The ICC in 2024 claimed to have issued an “international arrest warrant” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The reaction was negative, and Italy, France, and Germany declined to cooperate.
And when Netanyahu attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, there was no incident even though Muslim Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigning on a promise to use the NYPD to arrest the Israeli leader.
The U.S. move blocks any assets the ICC as an institution might have in U.S. jurisdictions and set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business down.
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[ H/T WorldNetDaily ]
