Washington defends Israel as biased ICC advances lawfare agenda aligned with anti-Israel Arab-backed hostility.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio announced sanctions Thursday against two International Criminal Court judges for their direct role in targeting Israel through what Washington describes as politicized judicial overreach. The measures apply to Georgian judge Gocha Lordkipanidze and Mongolian judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin, both accused of advancing ICC actions against Israeli officials without Israel’s consent.
Rubio stated that the judges actively supported efforts to investigate, arrest, or prosecute Israeli nationals, including backing a December 15 ruling that rejected Israel’s appeal against the ICC’s jurisdiction. He warned that the court’s actions set a dangerous precedent, undermining national sovereignty and weaponizing international law against democratic states defending themselves from terrorism.
“The ICC has continued to engage in politicized actions targeting Israel,” Rubio said, emphasizing that neither the United States nor Israel is a party to the Rome Statute and therefore rejects the court’s authority outright. He added that Washington would impose “significant and tangible consequences” for continued ICC lawfare.
The sanctions follow the ICC’s recent refusal to halt its Gaza war probe, allowing investigations to extend beyond Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. As a result, arrest warrants issued last year against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remain active—despite Israel’s non-membership in the court.
The ICC has also been rocked by controversy, with allegations that Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan pursued warrants against Israeli leaders for political leverage amid a personal misconduct accusation—claims that further erode the court’s credibility.
For Israel and its allies, the issue is clear: the ICC is no longer a neutral legal body but a political instrument increasingly aligned with hostile actors seeking to criminalize Israel’s right to self-defense while ignoring Palestinian terror and Arab-state complicity.
