(Washington, D.C., December 11, 2025) — In response to a Reuters report that the Trump administration is threatening the International Criminal Court with expanded sanctions unless the Court agrees to cease its prosecution of Israeli war criminals and amend the Rome Statute to ensure President Trump and other administration officials face no risk of prosecution, DAWN issued the following statement:
"Trump's shameful, bullying threats to the ICC are no different than mafia thugs who threaten judges to evade justice," said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN's executive director. "Threatening and intimidating the court is itself a criminal offense under the Rome Statute for which the ICC can and should prosecute Trump."
"The ICC's credibility and integrity depends on demonstrating that it applies the law fairly and squarely to all those who come before the court and giving in to Trump's demands would be a death knell for the court," said Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director. "ICC member states should recognize that bowing to U.S. demands for special treatment will cost them far more than the temporary sanctions the Trump administration may slap on the court."
"Trump's threats to destroy the ICC are only the latest example of the lengths he will go to shield Israeli war criminals from accountability," said Michael Omer-Man, Israel-Palestine Director at DAWN. "Protecting government officials responsible for the worst crimes known to humanity does neither Israeli nor American society any favors — it only guarantees that those crimes will keep occurring."
