ABU DHABI ¨C In 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to share evidence of Russian war crimes with the International Criminal Court, with the goal of indicting Russian President Vladimir Putin. This marked a sharp break from precedent, as the United States had long insisted that the ICC could not exercise jurisdiction over citizens from countries that had not ratified the Rome Statute establishing the Court ¡ª a group that includes Russia and the U.S.
But Biden changed his tune in November 2024, when the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. According to Biden, the decision was ¡°outrageous,¡± and the U.S. would always stand by its ally Israel, which is also not a signatory of the Rome Statute.
Donald Trump, Biden¡¯s successor, went a step further by imposing sanctions on ICC officials, including freezing their assets. In August 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the Court of being ¡°an instrument of lawfare.¡± By December, 11 ICC judges and prosecutors had been placed under U.S. sanctions. Then, in mid-July, the State Department launched a campaign to dismantle the Court.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.