The Assembly of States Parties, which is the governing body of the International Criminal Court, expressed “its deep concern over sanctions measures against the International Criminal Court (“the Court”) and its personnel, as well as individuals and entities who assist it in investigating, arresting, detaining, or prosecuting certain individuals,” as reported on Thursday.
“Sanctions can severely hamper ongoing investigations in all situations and other activities of the Court and affect the safety of victims, witnesses, and sanctioned individuals,” said the Assembly.
Though the statement does not mention the US or Israel, it comes after President Donald Trump issued executive order sanctions against the ICC and the ICC Prosecution for its November 21 issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant as part of its war crimes probe into the 2023-2024 Middle East war.
In addition, the US House of Representatives voted for sanctions against the ICC, and the US Senate, now controlled by Republicans, may follow suit.
The outgoing Biden administration had called the ICC arrest warrants “outrageous” and filed legal briefs opposing them but had declined to take punitive actions.
The arrest warrants constitute the darkest legal crisis Israel has ever encountered and have led to diplomatic bouts between Israel and other states, including several countries being more aggressive about seeking to arrest Israeli soldiers, even though the ICC itself has not gone after soldiers yet.
According to the Assembly, it “regrets any attempts to undermine the Court’s independence, integrity and impartiality. We reiterate our firm commitment to uphold and defend the principles and values enshrined in the Rome Statute and to preserve its integrity undeterred by any threats or measures against the Court, its officials, its personnel, and those cooperating with it.”
Israel’s appeal
On January 13, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan filed an objection to Israel’s appeal of the war crimes arrest warrants.
On November 21, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber, or lower court, approved the warrants, and in mid-December, Israel appealed to the ICC Appeals Court, the institution’s top court, to reverse the decision.
Israel’s appeal rested mainly on Articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute, raising both directly and indirectly a plethora of errors it said the lower court had committed in its decision.
Some of the issues raised by Israel relate to whether Palestine is a country, whether Israel’s legal establishment properly probes itself, whether Israel needed to be given more specifics by Khan about any investigation after October 7 radically changed the region, and whether a head of state from a democratic country like Netanyahu has a special immunity.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
