US Campaigning for Dissolution of ICC Court that Ordered Arrest of Israeli PM Netanyahu

DOK via WIkimedia Commons

JAKARTA - The United States announced a campaign to dissolve the International Criminal Court/International Criminal Court (ICC) which the Donald Trump administration considered a threat to US sovereignty.

The US State Department said the campaign would use "a whole-of-government response to systematically cripple the ICC's ability to operate, target American military personnel or officials, or threaten American sovereignty."

The statement argued that the court had claimed authority to prosecute American citizens even though Washington had never ratified the Rome Statute and said previous US administrations had rejected the court's jurisdiction over American citizens.

"The ICC previously opened an investigation into US military personnel and intelligence officers and has since refused to close these cases," he continued, as reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Tuesday, July 14.

In an opinion article published Monday, July 13 in The Wall Street Journal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the government would "dismantle the ICC - step by step, if necessary," arguing that the court had evolved into a supranational body that sought to override the authority of sovereign states.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.

The court also opened an investigation in March 2020 into potential crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan. Although the ICC has reduced the priority of the investigation since 2021, the court has not officially closed the case.

Last year, Washington sanctioned 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the court's chief prosecutor, including asset freezes and travel bans.

In his opinion, Rubio accused the ICC of being "supported and run by a powerful network of left-wing, arrogant globalist NGOs and hostile Third World governments."

The opinion specifically highlighted Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a Washington-based human rights group, for a March letter urging Iran, Israel, and Gulf states to accept the ICC's jurisdiction over war crimes committed during the war.

DAWN rejected Rubio's characterization, saying their letter called for accountability for all parties "without exception," not just US behavior in Iran.

"Rubio's misunderstanding of our call to investigate all possible war crimes committed in the war - which only focuses on US actions in Iran - raises questions," DAWN Executive Director Omar Shakir said in a statement.

"Does the Secretary of State worry because he knows US personnel committed war crimes in Iran?" he added.

DAWN Advocacy Director Raed Jarrar said the campaign targets "the rule-based international order," while the group's Israel-Palestine Director, Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, said DAWN would take legal action against the administration this week.