US hits International Criminal Court judges with sanctions over
investigation into Israel
[June 06, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE and MOLLY QUELL
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is slapping sanctions on four
judges at the International Criminal Court over the tribunal’s
investigation into alleged war crimes by Israel in its war against Hamas
in Gaza and in the West Bank.
The State Department said Thursday that it would freeze any assets that
the ICC judges, who come from Benin, Peru, Slovenia and Uganda, have in
U.S. jurisdictions. The move is just the latest step that the
administration has taken to punish the ICC and its officials for
investigations undertaken against Israel and the United States.
“As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the
ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close
ally, Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to
investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and
our allies,” Rubio said. “This dangerous assertion and abuse of power
infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United
States and our allies, including Israel.”
In February, The Hague-based court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, was
placed on Washington’s list of “Specially Designated Nationals and
Blocked Persons,” barring him from doing business with Americans and
placing restrictions on his entry into the U.S. Khan stepped aside last
month pending an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.
Within minutes of the administration's announcement, the court condemned
its actions. “These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the
independence of an international judicial institution,” ICC spokesperson
Fadi El Abdallah said in a statement.
New sanctions widen the targets
The new sanctions target ICC Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou, who is from the
West African country of Benin and was part of the pre-trial chamber of
judges who issued the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu last year. She also served on the bench that originally
greenlit the investigation into alleged Israeli crimes in the
Palestinian territories in 2021.
The 69-year-old was also part of the panel of judges who issued the
arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023. Last year,
a court in Moscow issued a warrant for her arrest.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the American Compass's The
New World Gala in Washington, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark
Schiefelbein)
From Slovenia, Beti Hohler was elected as a judge in 2023. She
previously worked in the prosecutor’s office at the court, leading
Israel to object to her participation in the proceedings involving
Israeli officials. Hohler said in a statement last year that she had
never worked on the Palestinian territories investigation during her
eight years as a prosecutor.
Bouth Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, from Peru, and Solomy Balungi
Bossa, from Uganda, are appeals judges at the ICC. Each woman has
worked on cases involving Israel.
Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of and neither recognizes
the legitimacy of the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for
Netanyahu for alleged war crimes over his military response in Gaza
after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023. Israel
strongly denies the allegations.
Trump has targeted the ICC before
During his first term in office, Trump targeted the ICC with
sanctions, voicing displeasure with probes into Israel and
complaints about alleged war crimes said to have been committed by
U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Those sanctions were rescinded by
President Joe Biden’s administration in early 2021.
Rubio said the U.S. would continue to take action to protect its and
Israel’s interests at the court. “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
ICC,” he said.
Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch,
said the Trump administration’s sanctions “aim to deter the ICC from
seeking accountability amid grave crimes committed in Israel and
Palestine, and as Israeli atrocities mount in Gaza, including with
U.S. complicity.”
“U.S. sanctions on ICC judges are a flagrant attack on the rule of
law at the same time as President Trump is working to undercut it at
home,” Evenson said in a statement. “Sanctions are meant to put a
stop to human rights violations, not to punish those seeking justice
for the worst crimes.”
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Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
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