The Biden administration is facing growing criticism for failing to lift US sanctions imposed last year on war crimes prosecutors at the international criminal court, at the same time as Israel is lobbying to keep the punitive measures in place. The sanctions, targeting officials in the ICC prosecutors and their families were imposed by the Trump administration in September in retaliation for launching investigations into the Afghan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. The failure to take action has provoked unease among US allies in Europe and elsewhere, who are staunch supporters of the ICC. Like the US, Israel is not a signatory to the Rome treaty establishing the ICC, but Afghanistan and the Palestinian Authority are. Diplomats and experts predicted that the Biden administration would eventually lift the sanctions, but was seeking a way to do so without seeming to endorse the ICC investigations in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

Source: The Guardian February 26, 2021 14:01 UTC