Trump Calls ICC ‘Evil’ as US Pushes for Countries to Leave Court
US President Donald Trump has called the International Criminal Court (ICC) an “evil group of people” and urged its member states to withdraw from the court during his UN General Assembly address. His remarks come as his administration prepares wider sanctions against the ICC following its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a Nutshell:
- Trump called the ICC a “rogue” and “out of control” institution and urged all member countries to leave it.
- His remarks came as the US administration prepared sanctions targeting the ICC as an organisation, according to Reuters.
- The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Netanyahu and Gallant have rejected the allegations.
- The International Criminal Court operates independently of the United Nations, and neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the court.
- The US has argued that the court has no jurisdiction over US citizens.
- Earlier US sanctions targeted individual ICC judges and prosecutors. The latest measures could target the court itself and affect its financial transactions, IT services, insurance and investigative work.
- The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity when national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so.
Context
The dispute between Washington and the ICC intensified after the court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in November 2024. The court said there were reasonable grounds to hold the Israeli leaders responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza war. Israel has rejected the allegations, while the US has opposed the court's actions. Moreover, according to an earlier report by Nutshell Today, the US administration's plans to impose even wider sanctions on the ICC and the possible impact on the court's ability to carry out its work.
Why it matters
The pressure on the ICC is closely connected to its warrant for Netanyahu. By threatening retaliatory sanctions against the ICC for pursuing a warrant against an ally, the U.S. is signaling that legal boundaries should not apply to powerful nations or their partners. This escalates a dangerous precedent where international law is treated as a geopolitical threat rather than a universal standard of justice.
What we think
The ICC is the only standing international court that actually issued a warrant against Netanyahu through that existing legal mechanism. When powerful global leaders label a standing international tribunal "evil" and demand the immediate resignation of its members, it strikes at the very foundation of global accountability. It raises the question: where does global accountability go from here if standing up to war crimes results in crippling economic and political retaliation against the court itself?