The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court including over an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it ramped up pressure to neuter the court of last resort.
The four judges in The Hague, all women, will be barred entry to the United States and any property or other interests in the world's largest economy will be blocked -- measures more often taken against policymakers from US adversaries than against judicial officials.
"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," 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."
Israel's Netanyahu welcomed the move, thanking US President Donald Trump's administration in a social media post.
"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," he wrote on Friday.
- War crimes -
Human Rights Watch urged other nations to speak out and reaffirm the independence of the ICC, set up in 2002 to prosecute individuals responsible for the world's gravest crimes when countries are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
The sanctions "aim to deter the ICC from seeking accountability amid grave crimes committed in Israel and Palestine and as Israeli atrocities mount in Gaza, including with US complicity," said the rights group's international justice director, Liz Evenson.
Two of the targeted judges, Beti Hohler of Slovenia and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin, took part in proceedings that led to an arrest warrant issued last November for Netanyahu.
The court found "reasonable grounds" of criminal responsibility by Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for actions that include the war crime of starvation as a method of war in the massive offensive in Gaza following Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel, alleging bias, has angrily rejected charges of war crimes as well as a separate allegation of genocide led by South Africa before the International Court of Justice.
The two other judges, 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.
- Return to hard line -
Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court.
But 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 already imposed sanctions on the then ICC chief prosecutor over the Afghanistan investigation.
After Trump's defeat in 2020, then 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.
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 fulfil 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 international court.
Orban thumbed his nose at the court by welcoming Netanyahu to visit in April.
