Washington imposes sanctions against the ICC: ban on entry into the US and freezing of accounts

The International Criminal Court in The Hague

Washington will ban a number of employees of the International Criminal Court (Ministry of Internal Affairs) in The Hague to enter the US and freeze their accounts in America, making it difficult to use credit cards in Europe. The sanctions are due to come into force on January 20, that is, after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. This became known on Wednesday, January 15.

Sanctions will be introduced due to the fact that ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yov Galant (at the time the warrant was issued, he served as Minister of Defense). The restrictions will affect Attorney General Karim Khan, judges and other employees involved in the case against Israeli politicians.

Congress is preparing another package of sanctions; they will affect countries that have expressed their readiness to implement the ICC decision regarding Netanyahu and Galant. These states, if the sanctions are approved, will lose American aid.

American measures against the ICC are aimed at ensuring that the warrants are canceled. Thus, Israel has already appealed the ICC decision, so the court has the opportunity to get out of the situation by avoiding sanctions.

In parallel, Israel is acting on the diplomatic track and is seeking the UN Security Council to appeal to the ICC with a request to freeze the warrants. Jerusalem proposes to justify such a request in the interests of peace in the region.

Meanwhile, the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Minister of Justice of Italy informed the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Gideon Saar, who is in Rome on an official visit, that they would grant Netanyahu immunity from prosecution by the ICC. Immunity only applies to Italy.

Source link