The United States and Israel are not members of the International Criminal Court and have long chafed at its efforts to prosecute officials in their governments and militaries.
Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

State Dept. Imposes Sanctions on International Criminal Court Judges

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the four judges were responsible for investigations of the U.S. military and arrest warrants against top Israeli officials.

by · NY Times

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that the United States would impose sanctions on four judges on the International Criminal Court as retaliation for investigations of the U.S. military and arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr. Rubio said in a statement that the sanctions would target four judges responsible for actions against the United States and Israel: Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.

The move follows similar sanctions imposed in February, when the U.S. government penalized Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the court. Mr. Khan had brought a case against Israel over its war in Gaza, and the sanctions have hobbled the work of his team.

The United States and Israel are not members of the court and have long chafed at its efforts to prosecute officials in their governments or militaries. During the first Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, announced sanctions against court officials, including the chief prosecutor, for planning to investigate U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

The State Department said that Ms. Bossa and Ms. Ibáñez Carranza had ruled to authorize the court’s investigation against U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. While they participated in an appeals decision that opened the way for that investigation, the court’s pursuit of the American role in Afghanistan was eventually dropped. Mr. Khan announced soon after taking office in 2021 that he would not pursue accusations of torture carried out by U.S. military and C.I.A. personnel in Afghanistan and at so-called black sites in other countries. No formal investigations of specific U.S. personnel have taken place, nor have warrants been issued.

The State Department also said that Ms. Alapini Gansou and Ms. Hohler had ruled to authorize arrest warrants targeting Mr. Netanyahu and the former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.

“The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel and any other U.S. ally from illegitimate actions by the I.C.C.,” Mr. Rubio said in a statement.

As a result of the sanctions, all U.S.-based assets of the four judges must be blocked and reported to the Treasury Department. Americans are barred from doing business with them.

Past sanctions against officials at the court have complicated their bank transactions and travel to the United States. Soon after President Trump took office in January, court officials urged staff members to avoid holding U.S. bank accounts. Several American employees have since resigned.

The court condemned the sanctions on Thursday, saying in a statement that they were “a clear attempt to undermine” an international institution that “provides justice and hope to millions of victims of unimaginable atrocities.”

“Targeting those working for accountability does nothing to help civilians trapped in conflict,” the court said in the statement. “It only emboldens those who believe they can act with impunity.”

The I.C.C., established under a 1998 treaty, is the world’s highest criminal court and has the jurisdiction to investigate and try people for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. But the court cannot enforce its rulings and relies on its member states to detain people who are accused of crimes.

The court draws its jurisdiction from the Rome Statute, a treaty ratified by 125 countries. The statute formally commits its signatories to arrest a wanted person who enters their soil, but members do not always comply.

Some of the world’s most powerful countries, including the United States, China, Russia, India and Israel, are not members of the court. They do not honor its arrest warrants or hand their citizens over for prosecution.

“I call on the countries that still support the I.C.C., many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to fight this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel,” Mr. Rubio said.

Amelia Nierenberg contributed reporting.

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