President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Dec. 29 meeting in Florida. (Jim Watson – AFP / Getty Images)
By Nick Givas September 21, 2026 at 12:23pm
Trump administration officials reportedly said they’re planning to sanction the International Criminal Court due to its issuance of an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The sanctions would prohibit “most transactions with the ICC after a grace period of six to seven months,” according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
This could, in essence, financially paralyze the court by blocking its ability to transact in U.S. dollars.
An official decision hasn’t been made public, but U.S. officials said it could come this week, during the U.N. General Assembly, which President Donald Trump is attending.
Trump also plans to meet with New York City’s Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday afternoon, one day before the U.N. gathering.
Mamdani has repeatedly said that the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu should be honored by NYC authorities, and that the Israeli leader should be arrested for genocidal war crimes against Palestinians.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times in July, referring to the ICC’s headquarters in the Netherlands.
Is the International Criminal Court corrupt?
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” the mayor added. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
Neither the United States nor Israel is an ICC member, however, and Mamdani’s legal team instructed him that he lacks the authority to carry out such a move.
The Democratic socialist has also commented on potential protests against Netanyahu during his upcoming visit to the U.N., saying that he never encouraged New Yorkers to take part in such demonstrations, Fox News reported.
“I do not have any plans to attend any protest at the UNGA,” he said Wednesday. “To New Yorkers I have never encouraged them to protest. What I have always told them is that they have the right to do so in this city.”
Trump has already offered assurances that Netanyahu will not be arrested on U.S. soil.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump wrote in July on Truth Social. “He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others.”
“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”
As for the potential ICC sanctions, a State Department spokesman noted that Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio’s believes the organization encroaches on American sovereignty, and said the U.S. would be willing to take it apart “brick by brick” if it has to.
The United States has already sanctioned various ICC officials, including the former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who was removed from his post in July due to sexual assault allegations.
In addition, the U.S. sanctioned the president of the ICC, Tomoko Akane, several judges, two deputy prosecutors, and the lead attorney in the case against Netanyahu.
European nations promised to protect the ICC from America’s potential punitive measures, but could not outline their strategy for doing so.
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Nick Givas has been a reporter for The Daily Caller, Fox News, and served as Managing Editor of the Newsroom at Project Veritas. He’s also hosted three different podcasts, served as a Congressional Communications Director, and had his work featured in The Federalist, Daily Signal, New York Post, and Real Clear Politics.
