The United States announced new sanctions targeting members of the International Criminal Court, adding two judges and two prosecutors to a sanctioned list. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the Court as a national security threat and an instrument of lawfare against the United States and Israel. The ICC previously issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The US State Department cited the roles of specific ICC members in issuing and upholding the Israeli arrest warrants. The ICC denounced the sanctions as an attack on judicial independence and vowed to continue its work. Netanyahu praised the sanctions as decisive against a smear campaign.
The United States has announced a new round of sanctions targeting members of the International Criminal Court, the latest instance of a pressure campaign against the court that previously issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes in Gaza. In a statement on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that two judges and two prosecutors were being added to a list of ICC members sanctioned by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Following the US State Department announcement, the court on Wednesday denounced the expanded US sanctions as a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution and the victims of war crimes around the world and said it would continue its work without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat. Netanyahu, meanwhile, welcomed Rubio's move as a decisive act against a smear campaign of lies against the State of Israel.
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