The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has signed a new executive order to apply sanctions to the personnel of the International Criminal Court (TPI), to which his country does not recognize, so he considers an offensive without foundation against the US and his allies, in allusion to those issued against the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
“The recent actions of the TPI feel a dangerous precedent, putting at risk direct Decree signed this Thursday and in which he qualifies the investigations of the International Court as an abuse of power that threatens the sovereignty of his country and weakens both his safety and that of his partners.
The president of the United States ensures that this threat justifies the declaration of “a national emergency”, since it considers unacceptable any attempt of the TPI to investigate, arrest or process citizens protected by their government. Therefore, Trump has commissioned the Department of the Treasury that, within 60 days, he identifies all people who could be affected by the sanctions imposed.
It imposes economic sanctions and visa restrictions on TPI officials who participate in judicial procedures, already in process or that are opened in the future, against the citizens of the United States or of allied countries, which the text defines as NATO members or Washington strategic partners. The sanction extends to their direct relatives, who will also see their entry into the country limited, unless the State Department, unique authorized to apply exceptions, based on recommendations of the new Attorney General, PAM Bondi.
This new executive order arrives two days after the meeting between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, the first international trip of the Israeli prime minister since the broadcast, in November, of the arrest orders of the TPI against him and Yoav Galant, considering that There is evidence that his government blocked access to essential goods in Gaza, which could constitute crimes of war and humanity.
The TPI, established under the Rome Statute, has as a mission to judge serious international crimes. However, neither the United States, nor Israel, nor other powers such as China or Russia recognize their jurisdiction. “The TPI has no jurisdiction in the United States or Israel,” says the document. “Both nations are prosperous democracies with armies that strictly adhere to the laws of war,” says the executive order.
It is not the first time that Donald Trump imposes penalties of this type of the TPI. During his first term, the objective was the then prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, who directed an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the United States troops in Afghanistan. The new decree also responds to the failed maneuver of the Republicans in the Senate, where the Democrats managed to block their attempt to sanction the TPI in retaliation for their investigations against Israel.
