Secretary of State “Narco” Rubio has determined that two judges of the International Criminal Court have committed the unpardonable offense of having “directly engaged” in efforts “to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent.” For this crime, they will be sanctioned, as have other ICC judges and staff in the past.
Rubio says the ICC is engaged in “politicized actions targeting Israel” and that the U.S. and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute and therefore reject the court’s jurisdiction.
Palestine, however, is a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, and therefore crimes committed on its territory are under ICC jurisdiction.
The sanctions are, in particular, in response to a December 15 decision by the ICC rejecting Israeli claims about jurisdiction. In that decision, the two sanctioned judges were joined by ICC President Tomoko Akane, but she has not been sanctioned.
The two judges join nine ICC staff members, including judges and the chief prosecutor, on the U.S. sanctions list. Prosecutor Karim Khan had his bank accounts closed and his U.S. visa revoked, and even had his ICC email address canceled by Microsoft. Other staff members have lost the use of their credit cards.
