August 21, 2025 | 05:36 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United States has imposed sanctions on four officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including a French judge who issued the arrest warrants for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
The case was initiated by the State of Palestine, which is not recognized by Washington but has ratified the laws establishing the court in The Hague, unlike Israel or the U.S.
"The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as reported by France24, using a term popular among supporters of President Donald Trump.
Rubio further explained that the four officials were targeted for seeking to investigate or prosecute American or Israeli citizens "without the consent of either nation."
According to a report by Anadolu, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has added the names of Nicolas Yann Guillou, Nazhat Shameem Khan, Mame Mandiaye Niang, and Kimberly Prost to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which identifies individuals subject to economic and trade sanctions.
The U.S. State Department specified that Guillou was sanctioned for authorizing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, while Prost was penalized for approving investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan.
Guillou, a French legal expert, was serving in the ICC's Pre-Trial Division I when the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in November 2024. They are accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Guillou previously worked in the United States, assisting the U.S. Department of Justice with judicial cooperation during the presidency of Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, Canadian judge Kimberly Prost was involved in a case that permitted investigations into alleged crimes committed during the war in Afghanistan, including by U.S. forces. Two deputy prosecutors, Khan from Fiji and Niang from Senegal, were sanctioned for supporting "illegitimate ICC actions against Israel," including enforcing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
The State Department noted that the sanctions were enacted under Executive Order 14203, which targets "malign efforts by the ICC" against the US and Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the four officials of efforts to "investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation."
He also reiterated that "The United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC’s politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach."
Rubio further referred to the international court as a national security threat to both the US and Israel.
As a result of these sanctions, all assets and interests of the four ICC officials in the US are now blocked, including entities in which they hold at least a 50 percent stake.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued a General License to permit the settlement of transactions until September 19, though payments must be made to a blocked account in the U.S.
These measures add to the ongoing tension between the ICC and the United States, which is not a member of the criminal court.
The Trump administration has consistently rejected the court's authority, a stance supported by nearly all democratic European nations, which see the court as a last resort when national systems fail to deliver justice.
In February, the Trump administration also imposed sanctions on the ICC and Prosecutor Karim Khan, accusing them of "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."
In June, sanctions were also imposed on four ICC judges. Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 62,000 Palestinian citizens in Gaza and destroyed the enclave, which is now suffering from widespread starvation.
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