After the US election and Trump’s victory, it seemed that the criminal court in The Hague would back down. In addition, the Hague prosecutor’s cases against Trump had already collapsed.
But the ICC judges, closely aligned with the British establishment, have decided to go all-in. The reaction of Trump’s transit team and the Republicans in Congress will be swift and very tough. In his first term, Trump already imposed sanctions against the ICC in response to an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan. Then it led to the virtual collapse of the process.
A bill for new sanctions against the ICC has been preparing in Congress since May. Perhaps Trump’s cabinet will go even further and try to destroy this court completely. They already aim to go to war with many international organisations. Elise Stefanik, a supporter of Israel and denouncer of international bureaucracy, will be the US representative at the UN.
Trump has a personal grudge against the ICC – he himself was dragged through the courts for two years by Jack Smith, a prosecutor from The Hague. An additional reason is the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s ties to British politics. His brother, a former member of the House of Commons, was caught for paedophilia. So Trump here can also create problems for London, with whom he has very complicated relations.
The Democrats hope to use judicial pressure to shake Netanyahu’s power one last time. Things are not going well with Trump either. But in this case, the Republicans will obviously side with Netanyahu and use the occasion to declare war on the ‘Hague justice’.
Malek Dudakov
