The United States Imposes New Sanctions on Two ICC Judges Investigating Israel

Washington announced on Thursday sanctions against two judges of the International Criminal Court, targeted for supporting the investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza. The announcement immediately provoked condemnation from the Court, which denounced a "blatant attack on its independence."

The United States announced on Thursday sanctions against two other judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who had investigated Israel, increasing pressure on the Court which promptly said it "firmly rejects" this decision.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified these sanctions by explaining that these two judges had recently voted with the majority of the Court to reject on Monday an Israeli appeal seeking to end an investigation into war crimes in Gaza.

The ICC, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants in November 2024 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. They are suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, where Israel waged a devastating war following the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on October 7, 2023, on its territory.

In a document published Monday, the ICC judges upheld their decision to investigate events that occurred in Gaza during the conflict. "We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject US and Israeli nationals to ICC jurisdiction," said the US Secretary of State, quoted in the statement. The State Department intends to continue imposing "consequences" for what it calls "ICC abuses of power," it added.

The newly sanctioned judges are Gocha Lordkipanidze, former Minister of Justice of Georgia, and Erdenebalsuren Damdin, from Mongolia. These sanctions follow those already imposed on nine ICC judges and prosecutors, while President Donald Trump launched a broad campaign against the Court.

The ICC immediately responded in a statement, saying it "firmly rejects the new US sanctions." They "constitute a blatant attack on the independence of an impartial judicial institution, which operates under the mandate granted by the States Parties," the ICC criticized. "Such measures, targeting judges and prosecutors elected by the States Parties, undermine the rule of law," it added, and put "the international legal order at risk."

"Strong Action"

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Washington's "strong action" and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked Marco Rubio on X for "this clear moral stance" of the United States. The US sanctions prohibit the judges from entering the United States and block any real estate or financial transactions with them in the world's largest economy.

Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the worst atrocities such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Neither Israel nor the United States are parties to the international treaty that established the ICC, just like Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin has also been subject to an arrest warrant since March 2023 for the alleged war crime of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.

During Donald Trump's first term (2017-2021), the ICC, particularly its then Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, had already been targeted by US sanctions—which were lifted by Joe Biden shortly after taking office in 2021.