Trump administration slaps sanctions on four ICC judges over Israel and US cases
Measures target pair of judges on panel that authorized arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant; two others okayed probe into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan
By
Jacob Magid and
AFPToday, 2:14 am
The Trump administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court who have been involved in proceedings against Israel and the United States.
The four judges will be barred from entering the US and their assets in the country will be seized, measures typically used against officials from countries hostile to America.
“The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel, and any other US ally from illegitimate actions by the ICC,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“I call on the countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to fight this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel,” Rubio said.
The court swiftly hit back, saying in a statement: “These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all corners of the globe.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the other hand hailed the sanctions, thanking the Trump administration for imposing them.
“Thank you President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio for imposing sanctions against the politicized judges of the ICC. You have justly stood up for the right of Israel, The United States and all democracies to defend themselves against savage terror,” said a statement from the premier’s office.
Two of the judges, Beti Hohler of Slovenia and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin, took part in proceedings that led the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan to issue in November arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (left) Netanyahu at the Knesset, November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); An exterior view of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 30, 2024. (AP/Peter Dejong); Then-defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a press conference at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, on November 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Khan claimed to find “reasonable grounds” of criminal responsibility by the pair for actions that include the war crime of starvation as a method of war in Israel’s massive offensive in Gaza following Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel has strongly rejected the charges.
Gansou also served on the bench that originally approved the investigation into alleged war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 2021.
Before being elected ICC judge in 2023, Hohler worked in the prosecutor’s office at the court, leading Israel to object to her participation in the proceedings involving Israeli officials. Hohler said in a statement last year that she had never worked on the investigation that began in 2021 during her eight years as a prosecutor.
The two other judges sanctioned by the US, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru and Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, were part of the court proceedings that led to the authorization of an investigation into allegations that US forces committed war crimes during the war in Afghanistan. They both have also worked on ICC cases involving Israel.
In February, Khan was placed on Washington’s list of “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons,” barring him from doing business with Americans and placing restrictions on his entry into the US Khan stepped aside last month pending an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.
Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court. The Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, is a Rome Statute signatory, in what the court has deemed is sufficient for hearing cases on alleged crimes that took place in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
US President Donald Trump listens as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images via AFP)
Moreover, almost all Western allies of the United States as well as Japan and South Korea, the vast majority of Latin America and much of Africa are parties to the statute and in theory are required to arrest suspects when they land on their soil.
Trump, in his first term, imposed sanctions on the then-ICC chief prosecutor over the Afghanistan investigation.
After Trump’s defeat in 2020, then-US president Joe Biden took a more conciliatory approach to the court with case-by-case cooperation.
Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken rescinded the sanctions and, while critical of its stance on Israel, worked with the court in its investigation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
ICC judges in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged mass abduction of Ukrainian children during the war.
Both Putin and Netanyahu have voiced defiance over the ICC pressure but have also looked to minimize time in countries that are party to the court.
This picture, taken from the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, shows smoke billowing during an Israeli strike on June 5, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
The ICC arrest warrants have been especially sensitive in Britain, a close US ally whose Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a former human rights lawyer.
Downing Street has said that Britain will fulfill its “legal obligations” without explicitly saying if Netanyahu would be arrested if he visits.
Hungary, led by Trump ally Viktor Orban, has parted ways with the rest of the European Union by moving to exit the court.
Orban spurned the court by welcoming Netanyahu to visit in April.
Set up in 2002, the ICC seeks to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s gravest crimes when countries are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
Israel and the US have argued that they have their own independent judiciaries that eliminate the need for an international court of last resort.
![Overview of the courtroom at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands on 22 April, 2024 [Selman Aksünger/Anadolu Agency]](/forum/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fwww.middleeastmonitor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FAA-20240422-34342328-34342327-ARMENIA_REJECTS_CHARGES_OF_RACIAL_DISCRIMINATION_AGAINST_AZERBAIJANIS_AT_INTERNATIONAL_COURT_OF_JUSTICE.jpg%3Ffit%3D1067%252C800%26ssl%3D1&hash=44c16982fe875903966352c1a2e2f4b1 "Overview of the courtroom at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands on 22 April, 2024 [Selman Aksünger/Anadolu Agency]")
