Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that the United States would impose sanctions on four judges on the International Criminal Court as retaliation for its investigations of U.S. military personnel and arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Rubio said in a statement that the sanctions would target four judges responsible for actions against the United States and Israel: Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.
The move follows similar sanctions imposed in February, when the U.S. government penalized Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the court. Mr. Khan had brought a case against Israel over its war in Gaza, and the sanctions have hobbled the work of his team.
The United States and Israel are not members of the court and have long chafed at its efforts to prosecute officials in their governments or militaries. During the first Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, announced sanctions against court officials, including the chief prosecutor, for bringing war crimes charges against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
The State Department said that Ms. Bossa and Ms. Ibáñez Carranza had ruled to authorize the court’s investigation against U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. It said that Ms. Alapini Gansou and Ms. Hohler had ruled to authorize arrest warrants targeting Mr. Netanyahu and the former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.
“The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel and any other U.S. ally from illegitimate actions by the I.C.C.,” Mr. Rubio said in a statement.
As a result of the sanctions, all U.S.-based assets of the four judges must be blocked and reported to the Treasury Department. Americans are barred from doing business with them.
The I.C.C., established under a 1998 treaty, is the world’s highest criminal court and has the jurisdiction to investigate and try people for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. But the court cannot enforce its rulings and relies on its member states to detain people who are accused of crimes.
The court draws its jurisdiction from the Rome Statute, a treaty ratified by 125 countries. The statute formally commits its signatories to arrest a wanted person who enters their soil, but members do not always comply.
Some of the world’s most powerful countries, including the United States, China, Russia, India and Israel, are not members of the court. They do not honor its arrest warrants or hand their citizens over for prosecution.
“I call on the countries that still support the I.C.C., many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to fight this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel,” Mr. Rubio said.