State Dept. imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court judges

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Thursday that the United States would impose sanctions on four judges on the International Criminal Court as retaliation for its investigations of U.S. military personnel and arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Rubio said in a statement that the sanctions would target four judges responsible for actions against the United States and Israel: Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.

The move follows similar sanctions imposed in February, when the U.S. government penalized Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the court. Khan had brought a case against Israel over its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the sanctions have hobbled the work of his team.

The United States and Israel are not members of the court and have long chafed at its efforts to prosecute officials in their governments or militaries. During the first Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, announced sanctions against court officials, including the chief prosecutor, for bringing war crimes charges against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

The State Department said that Bossa and Ibáñez Carranza had ruled to authorize the court’s investigation against U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. It said that Alapini Gansou and Hohler had ruled to authorize arrest warrants targeting Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel and any other U.S. ally from illegitimate actions by the ICC,” Rubio said in a statement.

As a result of the sanctions, all U.S.-based assets of the four judges must be blocked and reported to the Treasury Department. Americans are barred from doing business with them.

The ICC, established under a 1998 treaty, is the world’s highest criminal court and has the jurisdiction to investigate and try people for war crimes, genocide,

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