Palestinian official condemns Trump's sanctions on ICC as attack on international law

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a statement to Anadolu on Friday, Mustafa Barghouti criticized the US move following the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants on Nov. 21, 2024, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Barghouti said: "Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court is an attack on international law and a further step toward a lawless world that places Israel and its leaders above all international laws and norms."

He emphasized that this decision "legitimizes Israel’s commission of war crimes without accountability."

"This decision will not save the perpetrators of war crimes from international isolation or from the inevitable reckoning, whether it comes sooner or later," he continued.

Barghouti also said: "It is absurd for a politically and morally corrupt figure like Netanyahu to accuse the International Criminal Court of corruption."

Trump signed an executive order Thursday sanctioning the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza.

In his order, Trump accused the international court of engaging in "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America" and "close ally Israel."

Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant face arrest warrants issued by The Hague-based court in November last year for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Trump added that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the US or Israel, as neither country is a party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC.