Image source, Getty images
- Author, BERND DEBUSMANN JR
- Author’s title, BBC News
President Donald Trump signed an executive order that sanctions the International Criminal Court (CPI), accusing it of “illegitimate and unfounded actions against the United States and our nearby ally Israel.”
The measure imposes financial and visa restrictions on people and their families that collaborate in the CPI investigations on US or allied citizens. Trump signed the measure while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington.
Last November, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza, what Israel denies. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant against a Hamas commander.
An informative sheet of the White House that circulated on Thursday morning accused the ICC, based in The Hague, to create a “shameful moral equivalence” between Hamas and Israel by issuing orders at the same time.
Trump’s executive order says that the recent actions of the ICC “feel a dangerous precedent” that endangers Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest.”
“This evil conduct threatens to violate the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the important work of national and foreign security of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” says the order.
He adds that “both nations (the United States and Israel) are prosperous democracies with armies that strictly adhere to war laws.”
They are not the first sanctions
The United States is not a member of the CPI and has repeatedly rejected any body jurisdiction on US officials or citizens.
The White House accused the ICC of imposing restrictions on Israel’s right to legitimate defense, and ignoring Iran the antiisraelis groups.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Court and took several measures to sanction the agency during his first term.
In 2020, he imposed sanctions on CPI officials who were investigating whether US forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan. These sanctions were raised by the administration of President Joe Biden.
Image source, Getty images
Last month, the United States Representatives Chamber voted in favor of sanctioning the ICC, but the bill failed in the Senate. The CPI was founded in 2002, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the genocide of Rwanda, to investigate alleged atrocities. More than 120 countries have ratified the Rome Statute, which constituted the ICC, while another 34 have signed it and could ratify it in the future.
Neither the United States nor Israel are part of the Rome Statute. The CPI is a court of last instance and is intended to intervene only when the national authorities cannot or do not want to do so.
During his term, President Biden also criticized the arrest warrant of the CPI against Netyahu, qualifying the measure as “scandalous” and saying that there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
Trump insists on his proposal on Gaza
The Trump firm of its last executive order occurs after Tuesday, during a joint press conference with the Israeli Prime Minister, announced a plan for the United States to “take over” of Gaza, reassembles its Palestinian population and convert The territory in the “Riviera del Middle East”.
After the Arab leaders and the UN condemned the idea, the US president reiterated it on their social network social networks on Thursday.
“Israel would deliver the Gaza Strip to the United States at the end of fighting,” Trump wrote.
He repeated that the plan would imply resetting the Palestinians and that American soldiers would not be deployed.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Wednesday that any displacement would be temporary.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the inhabitants of Gaza would leave for an “interim” period while the reconstruction is carried out, according to the proposal.
Trump signed the order that sanctions the ICC while Netanyahu continued his visit in Washington, where he met with Republican and Democratic legislators in the Capitol.
The Israeli prime minister also handed Trump as a gift a golden search.
This is a reference to Israel’s mortal operation against Lebanese militia Hezbollah in September last year, using communication devices with explosive traps.
Dozens of people died and thousands were injured in the attacks.
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