'Textbook infringement': Palestine advocacy groups sue for immediate halt to Trump's ICC sanctions
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Wed, 07/15/2026 - 18:41
The executive order not only sanctioned the court's judges but also threatened anyone liaising with it
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands behind President Donald Trump as he speaks to the media at the end of his participation in the Nato leaders summit in Ankara, Turkey, on 8 July 2026 (Yves Herman/Reuters)
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Advocates for Palestinian rights in the US filed a lawsuit in a New York City federal court on Wednesday, seeking an injunction to stop the Trump administration's enforcement of sanctions against groups or individuals liaising with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), founded by the late Middle East Eye columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (Taag), said they felt compelled to immediately go to court after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in an opinion piece earlier this week that the US is willing to dismantle the ICC "brick by brick".
In the early weeks of his presidency, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14203, granting US officials the power to impose sanctions on foreigners for supporting the ICC's investigations into US and Israeli nationals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
He made it a federal offence to provide a "service" to - or receive one from - a sanctioned individual or entity.
ICC investigations, the Trump administration said, constitute a "national emergency" because the ICC lacks jurisdiction over crimes committed by US and Israeli nationals during wartime.
While Washington played a role in the early development of the ICC and signed the Rome Statute in 2000 under the presidency of Bill Clinton, it never submitted the statute to the Senate for ratification, amid fears that the ICC could prosecute US military personnel and officials for alleged war crimes, especially in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
'Textbook infringement'
Using Executive Order 14203, Trump has so far sanctioned ICC prosecutors and judges, as well as the Palestinian human rights groups al-Haq, al-Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
He also famously sanctioned the UN special rapporteur for the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.
Rubio says US will dismantle ICC 'brick by brick'
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"Because the government can interpret the term 'service' to encompass anything that confers a benefit on the recipient, groups like DAWN and TAAG could face civil and criminal charges if they engage in routine advocacy with the sanctioned parties," Dawn said in a statement.
Dawn said they could face legal trouble for filing a brief with the ICC encouraging it to investigate possible crimes, or even just sharing evidence or ideas with Palestinian human rights groups or Albanese.
"Faced with that threat, DAWN and TAAG - like many Americans - have been forced to self-censor. Many groups have halted their ICC-facing work and severed professional ties with the Palestinian human rights groups and Ms Albanese."
Joe Pace, the lawyer representing the two groups, said in a Wednesday briefing for reporters that Trump's actions are a "textbook infringement on the First Amendment".
"The Constitution does not permit the government to pick and choose what topics American citizens can discuss amongst themselves or with foreign parties," he said.
US vs ICC
Rubio’s broadside against the ICC will confirm views that the US and its closest partners are waging a diplomatic war on it because of its efforts to hold Israel to account for war crimes in Gaza, which has been deemed a genocide by the United Nations, human rights bodies and genocide scholars.
“The ICC’s interfering with American military and law enforcement operations isn’t just only a grave overreach of its purported authorities. It would mean the death of the US as a sovereign and independent nation,” Rubio wrote in an opinion article published by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
‘Financial death penalty’: How US sanctions are upending the lives of ICC judges
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Rubio also filmed a monologue on the issue, which was released on X on Monday, in which he accused the court of trying to take away Americans' rights to abide by their own laws and stand in front of a jury of their peers when accused of committing a crime.
"But today, powerful people in far away places want to take that away from us. They believe that they should be in charge of your laws, of your country, your life - and they don't care whether or not you agree," he said in the video.
He said that Americans likely don't know the names of the judges, prosecutors or presidents of the international court, and that they "shouldn't have to", while accusing the ICC of waging a war against the US.
Rubio’s criticism noted “bipartisan” opposition to the court, which was founded in 2002 in response to genocides and atrocities in war zones such as Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Notably, Rubio made no direct mention of the outstanding arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for their alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza, where over 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
The court also issued warrants for Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes committed during the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel. They were subsequently assassinated by Israel.
Dawn has previously made multiple submissions to the ICC, which include a 2022 filing encouraging sanctions against the Israeli army's far-right Netzah Yehuda Battalion; a 2023 submission identifying the Israeli military commanders active in the Israeli genocide in Gaza; and a 279-page January 2025 filing asking the ICC prosecutor to investigate former US President Joe Biden and his top cabinet officials for aiding and abetting crimes in Gaza.
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