The International Criminal Court Is Unlawfully Targeting Israel Again: We're Taking Direct Legal Action To Fight Back

In a shockingly unlawful attack on the sovereignty of Israel, the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for simply acting in lawful self-defense in response to the horrific October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on innocent Israeli (and non-Israeli) men, women, children, and the elderly. Incredibly, the ICC Chief Prosecutor encouraged States that are not ICC members to collaborate with the ICC “in working towards accountability and upholding international law.” In other words, the ICC is urging nations that are not part of the ICC to violate international law and assist the ICC in this unlawful overreach.

Because these ICC arrest warrants are so outrageous and without legal merit, we knew we had to respond and highlight the flawed actions of this court. As such, we recently sent letters to 38 States that are not ICC members (not parties to the Rome Statute) explaining why the ICC’s arrest warrants are factually and legally baseless.

In our letter, we explained that under “a well-settled principle of customary international law, the ICC has no jurisdictional authority to issue arrest warrants for citizens of a State not a party to the Rome Statute (without that State’s consent).” Since Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute, it is not subject to ICC jurisdiction, and as such, the ICC’s arrest warrants violate clearly established international law principles.

We also emphasized that non-party States are under no obligation, legal or otherwise, to cooperate with the ICC. In fact, since Israel has not waived immunity for its officials (by not ratifying the Rome Statute), the ICC Prosecutor, by requesting collaboration with non-party States, is asking the requested States to act inconsistently with their obligations under international law.

As such, we urged the States that we contacted “to counter what the [ICC Prosecutor] is attempting to do and use all governmental authority at your disposal, including the imposition of sanctions on the ICC, to punish and deter this infringement on the sovereignty of Israel – an overreach that simultaneously threatens the sovereignty of all non-party States.”

We explained that the “ICC has not only undermined the security of Israel and triggered a broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, but its actions also threaten all non-party States’ jurisdictional protections.” In short, “the [ICC]’s actions constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of all non-party States and merit immediate action.”

In this regard, we urged the non-party States:

to refuse any cooperation with the [ICC Prosecutor]’s requests and, instead, issue sanctions against the ICC and its officials, including restricting of visas and travel to your State as well as freezing of all assets of the ICC and any affiliated persons or parties posing a threat to international peace and security and well-established international law principles.

We also sent specific letters to 10 out of the 38 States that were directly affected by the horrific October 7, 2023, attack. Four Philippine nationals, for example, were killed in the October 7 attack, and we noted these tragic numbers in our letter to the Philippines.

The ICC’s reputation on the international stage has been faltering for years. The way that the ICC continues to unlawfully target Israel proves this ongoing problem.

That is why the ACLJ refuses to let the ICC get away with these meritless arrest warrants. We will continue to stand strong with Israel and fight back against these erroneous attacks.