President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court for issuing “baseless arrest warrants” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes.
Trump accuses the ICC of taking “illegitimate and baseless actions” against the U.S. and one of its closest allies, Israel.
Last year, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, who was fired in November 2024, over allegations of starving Palestinians and directly targeting civilians in Gaza during Israel’s 15-month war with Hamas. The conflict is currently on pause due to a cease-fire agreement that allows for the release of the remaining hostages.
The warrants essentially enabled the potential arrests of both Israeli leaders in the event they entered any one of the 125 countries that are party to the Rome Statute.
“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC,” the order states. “Neither country has ever recognized the ICC’s jurisdiction, and both nations are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war.”
Khan also sought the arrests of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif, all of whom have been killed by the Israeli military in retribution for the October 7 massacre.
The Trump administration says the simultaneous issuing of arrest warrants created a “shameful moral equivalency” between Israel and Hamas, according to a White House fact sheet.
The executive order includes financial sanctions and visa restrictions against ICC officials and their family members, if they engage in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute citizens of the United States or its allies.
“The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our Nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States,” the order continues.
The move came in the same week that Netanyahu visited Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump in the White House and congressional leaders on Capitol Hill. Trump reiterated his strong alliance with Netanyahu and Israel.
Lawmakers of both parties who support Israel passed a bill in the House last month to sanction the ICC, but the legislation went nowhere in the Senate after Democrats opposed the measure. Republican congressmen then pushed Trump to impose restrictions on the ICC himself.
In 2020, Trump authorized sanctions against ICC officials for investigating alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan before the Biden administration disastrously pulled military forces from the country a year later.