Ever since President Donald Trump took office, his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has imposed sanctions.
Late last month, it was revealed that the Trump administration would work on lifting several major sanctions on Syria.
In a statement, Rubio said that lifting the sanctions would “advance Syria’s recovery and reconstruction efforts”
This week, Rubio made another announcement. This time, he shared that the US would be imposing sanctions on several individuals.
On Thursday, Secretary Rubio announced new sanctions on four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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According to The Washington Post, two of the judges voted to authorize an ICC investigation of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan. Two of them authorized arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense minister.
The sanctions freeze all United States-controlled property and assets of the four judges: Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia (via state.gov):
These individuals directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without consent from the United States or Israel. Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the Rome Statute.
As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel. The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies. This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel.
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.
In a statement, the ICC claimed it “deplores” the sanctions, calling them “a clear attempt to undermine the independence” of the court.
Predictably, the United Nations chimed in, demanding that the US withdraw the sanctions.
In February, Trump asserted that the court “has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
Netanyahu issued a statement thanking Trump and Rubio as they "stood up for the right of Israel.”
