President Trump authorized the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday for a court's arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Joab Gallant.
Trump, 78, has signed sanctions targeting ICC officials, employees and their near-kinds, following financial penalties and visa restrictions.
The move comes days after Trump met Netanyahu, 75, at the White House. Meanwhile, he revealed his desire to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate the approximately 2 million Palestinians living there.
Senate Democrats blocked a bill that slapped similar sanctions against the ICC last month. The measure cleared the House and urged Trump to do it himself.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan first pushed the arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant to the court last May.
Khan also pursued a warrant for Hamas leaders Ismail Hanie and Yahya Singwar Mohammed Deif, who were killed in the war.
In November, the ICC collected a warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant, 66. It claims there is a “rational basis” to conclude that the two men are “a purposefully and intentionally deprived civilians of objects are essential to their survival.”
The Israelis have announced plans to appeal the arrest warrant.
Neither the United States nor Israel has ratified the 1998 Rome Act, which created the courts, nor are neither of the countries aware of the ICC. The treaty was based in The Hague, Netherlands, and created the ICC, which came into effect in 2002.
Trump's executive order “denounced the ICC for “illegal and unfounded actions” targeting the US and our close ally Israel.
“The ICC has launched a preliminary investigation, claiming jurisdiction over US officials without justification,” his executive order continued.
“This malicious act threatens to infringe on US sovereignty and undermine the important national security and foreign policy activities of the US government, including Israel, and our allies.”
The warrant could result in Netanyahu and Gallant being arrested in any of the 124 countries that ratified Roman law, including Austria, the UK and France.
During his first administration, Trump submitted sanctions against the ICC over an investigation into alleged US conduct in Afghanistan.
It appears Trump has corrected things with the Israeli Prime Minister despite temporarily rebutting with Netanyahu about the US strike that took Iran's General Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.
“He's done a great job and we've been friends for a long time,” Trump said of Netanyahu at a White House meeting. “We do a great job too. I think there's actually a very invincible combination.”
Netanyahu likewise praised Trump as “the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
Earlier on Thursday, Trump signed another executive order and called on the Department of Justice to convene a task force investigating “anti-Christian bias” across the federal government.
