Why has Trump done this? Because the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of Israel for genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza, last November.
This is still another favor Trump is doing for Netanyahu, having just met with him in the White House, where Netanyahu gave Trump a Golden Hezbollah Pager, and Trump gave Bibi a golden key to the White House.
Thursday, Trump issued an executive order titled: "Imposing Sanctions On The International Criminal Court."
Trump claims the power to issue the sanctions under the International Emergency Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act, and Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
The ICC has "engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."
"... and has further abused its power by issuing baseless warrants targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant."
Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act of 2002 indemnify U.S. soldiers for war crimes. This was very convenient for the war in Iraq, which started in March of 2003.
"In addition to exposing members of the Armed Forces of the United States to the risk of international criminal prosecution, the Rome statute creates a risk that the President and other senior elected and appointed officials of the United States Government may be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court."
That's the whole idea. The International Criminal Court can't do anything unless you're a signatory. The U.S. actually signed it but never ratified it. Others in that group include Iran, Russia, and Israel. Countries that never even signed it include North Korea, China, and Saudi Arabia.
"The United States remains committed to accountability and to the peaceful cultivation of international order, but the ICC and parties to the statute must respect the positions of the United States and other countries not to subject their personnel to the ICC's jurisdiction, consistent their respective sovereign prerogatives."
A fancy way of saying that we can do anything we want to, and you're way out of line if you accuse us of anything. We just won't listen to it anyway. So, you better not charge us with anything or we will hit you right back. If you can't go after anyone who has committed war crimes, what purpose is the ICC? What about the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam in 1968? Should that have gone unpunished? There was no ICC at the time, we prosecuted those soldiers ourselves.
"I therefore determine that any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute protected persons... constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security foreign policy of the United States, and I hearby declare a national emergency to address that threat."
So, it's a national security problem for the United States to have Netanyahu arrested for war crimes? The current Palestinian death count is 47,600, and 12,000 probably buried under the rubble. How much does he need to do to constitute a war crime? The October 7th attack by Hamas was horrific, but it is very hard to say that the killing of this many Palestinians is justified. The ICC also issued arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas at the very same time as Netanyahu's was charged. Trump says nothing about that in the executive order, but shouldn't he have? He didn't do it because that would give the ICC some legitimacy that he doesn't want to give them.
"The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome statute or is a member of the ICC."
True, the United States and Israel are not party to the agreement, but both of them signed it. They just didn't ratify it. Other countries that didn't ratify the Rome statute include Russia, Iran, and Israel. Countries that didn't even sign it include China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
Then Trump goes off base saying that the ICC has been acting against the United States of America. It has done nothing of the sort. It has only issued warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
The ICC only acts against individuals. The International Court of Justice deals with countries.
"The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for ICC transgressions."
He will block property and assets, revoke visas, block entry to the United States for individuals on the court and their families.
The arrest warrants issued against Netanyahu and Gallant, and Hamas leaders happened all the way back last November. Why wasn't it a national emergency then? Because Trump just met with Netanyahu and Trump's Project 2025 staffers who looked up the acts under which he could be claiming to do a right and righteous action.
Anyone that helps in any way to enforce an ICC warrant is also subject to sanctions. Again, Trump doesn't differentiate between Israeli officials and Hamas officials.
I suppose the qualifier is calling someone a protected person. He doesn't actually say that about Netanyahu or Gallant.
Sure enough, he comes up with a definition.
"... a protected person shall mean:
any United States person, unless the United States provides formal consent to ICC jurisdiction over that person or becomes a state party to the Rome statute.
... any foreign person that is a citizen or lawful resident of an ally of the United States that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction over that person or is not a party to the Rome statute."
Israel is an ally, therefore Netanyahu cannot be touched. Then he goes on to actually define ally.
"... the term "ally of the United States" means:
...a government or member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or
...a government of a major non-NATO ally."
It's ironic that at the end he invokes NATO. And then it has to be a major non-NATO ally, in order to encompass Israel.
The order ends with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of State working together on the impoundment of property and the access of individuals described to be sanctioned by the order.
Even the Pope was asking last November if what Israel was doing was genocide. We can all make our own personal judgments, but we're never going to see Netanyahu or Gallant in front of the ICC.
This was all for show. Another way of Trump showing support for Israel. The Arab and Palestinian communities in the United States and around the world will be upset about Trump's action. But they already had the much worse one of Trump talking about taking over Gaza and turning it into a resort for his hotels. Beachfront property is always so valuable. All Trump can think about is it's a real estate deal. The rest of the world is calling it ethnic cleansing.
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A report from Axios says that Netanyahu said that if Hamas relinquishes power and their leaders go into exile in a third party country, the war would end.
The report also goes into detail about additional stages of the ceasefire and the release of hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
