**Trump Sanctions International Criminal Court**
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC). The move comes after Trump accused the ICC of targeting American nationals and Israel. The new measure puts financial restrictions on people who help with ICC investigations into Americans or their allies.
The ICC had issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders Yoav Galant and Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year. It also arrested a Hamas leader. In response, the White House said the ICC was creating a “shameful” moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel by doing so.
The US claims that the ICC is limiting Israel’s right to self-defense and ignoring Iran and anti-Israel groups. Trump has been critical of the ICC before and has taken steps to sanction it during his time in office.
**What does the International Criminal Court do?**
The ICC was set up in 2002 to deal with serious crimes like genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It can only investigate crimes committed after July 2002. The court is a last resort that intervenes when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.
Over 120 countries have ratified the treaty that formed the ICC, while another 34 have signed it and may ratify in the future. Neither the US nor Israel is part of this treaty.
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