ICC Judges Sanctioned by Trump Team for Probing U.S., Israel

The Trump administration took bold action Thursday by sanctioning four judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC), declaring them complicit in hostile efforts to prosecute American and Israeli leaders.

The sanctions were issued after ICC judges authorized politically charged investigations into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over actions in Gaza. Neither the United States nor Israel recognizes the ICC’s authority and President Trump has now ensured the consequences of overreach will be real and personal.

“These individuals directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without consent from the United States or Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

• Judges Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda) and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza (Peru) voted to authorize the ICC’s Afghanistan probe targeting American troops.

• Judges Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou (Benin) and Beti Hohler (Slovenia) gave the green light for ICC arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

• All four are now subject to U.S. sanctions under Executive Order 14203, signed by President Trump in February.

The order blocks all U.S.-based assets and property held by these judges and bans Americans from doing business with them or providing any material support. Any entities they own 50% or more of are similarly blacklisted.

“This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel,” Rubio said.

The ICC a court long manipulated by international leftists has no legal jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis. And yet it has continued to act as a globalist bludgeon, criminalizing the self-defense and warfighting efforts of democratic nations.

This isn’t the first time the ICC has targeted the West. The Trump administration had previously sanctioned court officials in 2020 for similar behavior, only to see the Biden administration lift those sanctions, giving the ICC free rein. That leniency has now ended.

The latest action is part of a broader Trump foreign policy doctrine America First, and its allies defended without apology. The White House is also urging allied nations to denounce the ICC’s assault on sovereignty.

“The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel, and any other U.S. ally,” Rubio affirmed.

The sanctions serve as a warning international bureaucrats don’t get to punish American troops or Israeli leaders for defending their nations. And if they try, the cost will be real and lasting.

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