(CN) — The Trump administration imposed sanctions late Thursday on four judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accusing them of “transgressions” by approving cases against the United States and Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Thursday announcement marked a sharp escalation in America’s opposition to the world’s only permanent tribunal that prosecutes war crimes and genocide.
The move drew strong condemnation from the ICC, but little reaction from European Union leaders, who are ostensibly strong supporters of the court. European leaders, though, have been largely silent about Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip against Palestinians, which many legal experts say amount to ethnic cleansing and even genocide.
Rubio called the court’s actions against the U.S. and its staunch ally Israel “illegitimate and baseless.”
“The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies,” Rubio said in a statement. “This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel.”
Two of the sanctioned judges approved arrest warrants for war crimes against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The other two judges authorized a probe into possible war crimes committed by American soldiers in Afghanistan.
The United States has long opposed the ICC, the world’s court of last resort established in 2002 to prosecute those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of aggression, and genocide.
American leaders, in particular those with the Republican Party, view the ICC as a hostile court that cannot be allowed to have jurisdiction over American decisions and actions.
“These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution,” the ICC said in a statement. “Targeting those working for accountability does nothing to help civilians trapped in conflict. It only emboldens those who believe they can act with impunity.”
The ICC warned its operations would be hit hard because the sanctions also target “all those who support the court, including nationals and corporate entities.”
The court did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment from Courthouse News. Spokespeople for the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, told reporters during a briefing that the EU “deeply regretted” the decision to impose sanctions, but they said the EU was not yet ready to use tools at its disposal to block the effect of the U.S. sanctions inside the EU.
On social media, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, expressed support for the court.
“The ICC holds perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes to account and gives victims a voice,” she wrote. “It must be free to act without pressure. We will always stand for global justice & the respect of international law.”
The U.S., along with other military powers such as China, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Iran and India, are not signatories to the Rome Statute and do not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
There are 125 countries that accept the court’s jurisdiction, though that number will dip to 124 in June 2026 when Hungary’s decision this year to withdraw from the treaty formally takes effect. Far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a staunch ally of Netanyahu and announced his country’s withdrawal from the ICC while he hosted the Israeli leader in April, a major snub of the court’s reach.
U.S. President Donald Trump first slapped sanctions on the court in 2020 during his first term in the White House. At the time, he sought to punish the court’s former chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, for opening a probe into possible crimes committed by American soldiers in Afghanistan. The Biden administration then lifted those sanctions, though it criticized the court for its Afghanistan probe.
Shortly after returning to the White House, Trump hit Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor, with fresh sanctions in connection to his war crimes prosecution against Israel.
The judges targeted by the U.S. are all women. They are Judge Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou, a second vice-president on the court from Benin; Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa from Uganda; Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza from Peru; and Judge Beti Hohler from Slovenia.
Bossa and Ibáñez Carranza ruled to authorize the ICC’s investigation against U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Alapini Gansou and Hohler backed the issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
The State Department said the sanctions target the judges’ property and interests in the U.S., block them from entering the U.S. and prohibit “any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services” that may benefit the judges.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.