Trump backs Israel as ICC faces backlash over Netanyahu warrant

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, expressed his support for U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC). These sanctions respond to the ICC's issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Saar described the Tribunal's actions as "immoral and having no legal basis."

Gideon Saar emphasized that the ICC does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli citizens because Israel, like the United States, is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the Court.

The ICC aggressively pursues the elected leaders of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, wrote Saar on the X platform.

President Trump signed an order imposing sanctions on the ICC and individuals supporting the Court in prosecuting Americans, Israeli officials, and other U.S. allies.

The document condemned the ICC's issuance in November 2024 of arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Court accuses them of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has repeatedly rejected ICC accusations, calling them "false, absurd, and anti-Semitic." Saar believes that both the U.S. and Israel "are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war."

The ICC and the President of the European Council have already condemned Trump's decision. "The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an Executive Order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work," emphasized the Tribunal in a statement.