US ramps up attack on ICC over Israel

The United States on Wednesday defiantly expanded efforts to hobble the International Criminal Court over its prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sanctioning a judge from ally France.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also targeted a Canadian judge in a separate case in his latest volley of sanctions against the tribunal in The Hague, which is backed by virtually all other Western democracies as a court of last resort.

"The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel," Rubio said in a statement, using a term popular with President Donald Trump's supporters.

He attacked the court for investigating US and Israeli citizens "without the consent of either nation."

Among the four people newly slapped with sanctions was Judge Nicolas Guillou of France, who is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

France -- whose president, Emmanuel Macron, was in Washington two days earlier — expressed "dismay" over the action.

The sanctions are "in contradiction to the principle of an independent judiciary," a foreign ministry spokesman said in Paris.

The ICC in its own statement denounced the "flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution."

The court's prosecution alleges Netanyahu is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel's offensive in Gaza including by intentionally targeting civilians and using starvation as a method of war.

Netanyahu saluted Rubio for his "decisive act against a smear campaign of lies against the State of Israel" and the Israeli army.

Israel launched the massive offensive in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel in which mostly civilians were killed.