The International Criminal Court (ICC) will soon decide whether they will issue arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel who have led the campaign to return the hostages taken on October 7th and bring the murderous leaders of Hamas to justice. 

If it seems ironic that a court of justice would condemn these leaders, don’t worry. Our heads are still spinning too. There is at least one person, however, who presumably isn’t surprised by this outrage: Donald Trump. 

Trump is now 2-for-2 on warning the world about corrupt entities that have played a huge role in stoking the fire during the Israel-Gaza conflict that erupted after Oct. 7. 

In June 2020, President Trump issued economic sanctions against the ICC as well as sanctions against personnel of the court. He stated, 

“As far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy and no authority. The ICC claims near-universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country violating all principles of justice, fairness, and due process. We will never surrender America's sovereignty to an unelected, uncountable, global bureaucracy.”

These words ring profoundly as the democratically elected Prime Minister of Israel has now been attacked by this rogue, presumptuous court. Both the U.S. and Israel do not recognize the court’s jurisdiction. 

This isn’t the first time Trump was right. In 2018, Trump discontinued U.S. contribution to UNRWA the U.N. refugee agency specifically assigned to the Palestinian people, calling it “irredeemably flawed.” Since the war began, the IDF alleges that almost not a single UNRWA school, mosque, or hospital in Gaza has been found without weapons. That’s not to mention the Hamas data center located directly underneath UNRWA headquarters, or the miles and miles of underground tunnels that were funded by international aid. Even worse, actual paid staff members of this U.N. agency participated in the murder and kidnapping of innocent Israelis. 

In light of these developments, it’s quite the embarrassment that our current president reinstated funding to UNRWA in 2021. In 2023 alone, the U.S. sent $422 million to this agency. For some, it almost seems as if the money was sent straight to Hamas. The dividing lines between the two are hard to find. 

As for the International Criminal Court, in 2021 Biden also lifted the sanctions Trump imposed. In a statement by Blinken, the Secretary of State says, 

“We maintain our longstanding objection to the Court’s efforts to assert jurisdiction over personnel of non-States Parties such as the United States and Israel. We believe, however, that our concerns about these cases would be better addressed through engagement with all stakeholders in the ICC process rather than through the imposition of sanctions.”

In other words: Biden knows they don’t play fair, but he still wants to be friends. This cowardice is at the heart of the current administration’s failed decisions on foreign relations. 

The removal of the sanctions helped legitimize a court which has no real legitimacy at all. Now they are using their platform to criticize one of America's greatest allies in a time of crisis. The refunding of UNRWA only fueled our enemies and funded their ventures that led to the October 7th war that has caused such great pain, suffering, and international division. 

What we can and should learn from this is that Robert Gates was right when he famously said that Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” That was in 2014. We can now add an extra decade to that count, and hopefully none more after this election.