Trump imposes sanctions on war crime court officials at the ICC.

 

Convicted felon, President Donald Trump, has only been in office since January 20, and already he's made the U.S. legal system look bleeding ridiculous by pardoning rioters and drug dealers and trying to get the courts to quash his own convictions for falsifying business records.

He's now signed an executive order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) officials. The sanctions, which could lead to visa restrictions on travel and financial assets being frozen, are Trump's response to the warrants that were issued by the court last November, for the arrest of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant. They were charged by the ICC with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands, said that the two Israeli leaders "each bear criminal responsibility" for war crimes and acts including the "war crime of starvation."

The ICC also issued a warrant for the arrest of the Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif, who the Israelis say was killed in the Gaza conflict. Trump has dismissed the ICC charges against Netanyahu and Gallant and said the ICC had "engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel." He also accused the ICC of threatening U.S. national security and U.S. foreign policy.

Some 125 countries are parties to the Rome Statute, which established the jurisdiction of the ICC. Yet neither the U.S. or Israel recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC and under The Hague Invasion Act, introduced by the Americans over twenty years ago, America can invade the Netherlands to rescue American personnel who are being held in detention by the ICC for alleged war crimes. If this did occur, it would be considered the invasion of a NATO country that would oblige other NATO countries to take retaliatory action against America.

Trump said recently that he wants to annex Gaza by bringing it under American control and ethnically cleanse and disperse the Palestinian population. Trump who has made millions from property speculation, believes that Gaza without Palestinians could be transformed into an idyllic American-owned "Riviera of the Middle East" populated by the world's wealthy.