“The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, using a term popular with President Donald Trump’s supporters.
Rubio said that the four people targeted from the tribunal based in The Hague had sought to investigate or prosecute nationals from the United States or Israel “without the consent of either nation.”
The four include Judge Nicolas Guillou of France, who is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The case was brought forward by the State of Palestine, which is not recognized by Washington but, unlike Israel or the United States, has acceded to the statute that set up the tribunal in The Hague.
Guillou, a veteran jurist, had worked for several years in the United States assisting the Justice Department with judicial cooperation during Barack Obama’s presidency.
Also targeted in the latest US sanctions was a Canadian judge, Kimberly Prost, who was involved in a case that authorized an investigation into alleged crimes committed during the war in Afghanistan, including by US forces.
Under the sanctions, the United States will bar entry of the ICC judges to the United States and block any property they have in the world’s largest economy — measures more often taken against US adversaries than individuals from close allies.
Rubio also slapped sanctions on two deputy prosecutors — Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.
The State Department said the two were punished by the United States for supporting “illegitimate ICC actions against Israel,” including by supporting the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
The Trump administration has roundly rejected the authority of the court, which is backed by almost all European democracies and was set up as a court of last resort when national systems do not allow for justice.
Trump on Friday welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Alaska even though Putin faces an ICC arrest warrant, a factor that has stopped him from traveling more widely since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
Rubio slapped sanctions on four other ICC judges in June.
The International Criminal Court on Wednesday denounced new US sanctions against two more of its judges and two prosecutors, calling them a “flagrant attack” on its independence.
“These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution,” the court said in a statement.
The ICC noted it stood “firmly behind its personnel and victims of unimaginable atrocities”.
It added it would “continue fulfilling its mandates, undeterred” and “without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat”.
