The International Criminal Court, dozens of nations and European leaders slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's order imposing sanctions aimed at blocking the court's investigations of Israel and the United States.
"The ICC condemns the issuance by the U.S. of an executive order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work," The Hague-based war crimes tribunal said on Friday.
"The court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it," the court said, adding that it calls on each of its 125 member nations, civil society and all other nations to "stand united for justice and fundamental human rights."
Trump objects to the ICC investigating or prosecuting any citizen of the U.S. or allied nation, such as Israel, because the U.S. isn't a member of the court. But the court has jurisdiction not only over nations that are members.
The U.N. Security Council – which the U.S. can always block with its veto power – can refer a case. And the court can investigate cases in member nations that involve perpetrators of non-member nations; such is the case involving Afghanistan and the U.S.
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for support for the ICC in the face of Trump's order.
"Standing up for international law and for the International Criminal Court is in our greatest possible security interest. Only the strength of the law can protect against the law of the strong," she said. "Ultimately, when rules no longer apply, everyone loses."
Seventy-nine of the ICC's member nations – including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and South Africa – blasted Trump's order as an effort to undermine the court’s independence, integrity and impartiality.
"Such measures increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law, which is crucial for promoting global order and security," they said. "Moreover, sanctions could jeopardize the confidentiality of sensitive information and the safety of those involved—including victims, witnesses, and court officials, many of whom are our nationals."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa each said Trump's executive order flies in the face of justice and respect for international law.
Von der Leyen said the ICC "guarantees accountability for international crimes and gives a voice to victims worldwide" and that it "must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity."
Costa described Trump's order as an attack on justice and international law. "Sanctioning the ICC threatens the court’s independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole," he said.
Trump's executive order a day earlier imposed asset freezes and travel bans against ICC staff and their family members if they found to be involved in efforts to investigate U.S. citizens and allies.
The new European Council president also met with ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane and said the court has an essential role in delivering justice to victims of some of the world’s most horrific crimes.
"Independence and impartiality are crucial characteristics of the court’s work," he said. "The E.U. remains committed to ending impunity and ensuring accountability for all violations of international law."
Trump order says ICC acts illegimately
Trump said in his order that the ICC "has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."
The ICC's actions against Israel and preliminary investigations into the United States, Trump said, “set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest."
"The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions," he said, "some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States."
Earlier in the week, Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, marking Trump's first meeting with a world leader since his inauguration in January.
Trump said that Palestinians should be removed from Gaza to allow the U.S. to “own” the coastal territory and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
The ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, alleging they committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during Israel's war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A warrant also was issued seeking to arrest Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes from the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparking the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif are now on notice that they are to arrested if they set foot within the ICC's 125 member nations, which do not include China, India, Israel, Russia and the United States. Ukraine became the latest to join the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statue, at the start of 2025.
In November, the ICC's former chief prosecutor from 2012 to 2021 disclosed that she and her family faced threats over some of the most sensitive cases, including those alleging Israeli and U.S. war crimes.
Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer and maritime law expert who represents her nation in the United Kingdom, launched an investigation in March 2021 into alleged war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas.
An ICC ruling in March 2020 allowed Bensouda to launch an inquiry into whether war crimes were committed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, Afghan military or American-led forces going back almost 18 years earlier.
Bensouda alleged U.S. military and intelligence personnel illegally imprisoned, tortured and raped "conflict-related detainees" in Afghanistan and secret CIA facilities in Poland, Romania and Lithuania from 2003 to 2004.
