ICC: "An Attack on Judicial Independence"
Marco Rubio, United States Secretary of State, announced sanctions against two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges involved in issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On the 18th (local time), Secretary Rubio designated two judges from Georgia and Mongolia as subjects of "sanctions against the ICC" in a State Department press release. Secretary Rubio stated, "These individuals were directly involved in the ICC's efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals without Israel's consent," adding, "This also includes their majority vote on December 15 to dismiss Israel's appeal."
Previously, in May of last year, the ICC prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas on charges of war crimes, and the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber issued the warrants. Israel appealed, demanding that the investigation into Prime Minister Netanyahu and others be halted and the arrest warrants withdrawn, but the ICC Appeals Chamber dismissed the appeal on the 15th.
The United States and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty, and therefore do not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction. Secretary Rubio stated, "The ICC has continued to take political actions targeting Israel, setting a dangerous precedent for all nations." He emphasized, "We will not tolerate the ICC's abuse of authority that infringes upon the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and seeks to unjustly subject Americans and Israelis to its jurisdiction."
In response, the ICC issued a statement, denouncing the U.S. sanctions as "a blatant attack on the independence of a fair judicial institution."
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