Trump bars ICC members from US over Israel case, doubles down on Gaza takeover

Washington: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order blocking members of the International Criminal Court from entering the US over its investigations of Israel, after doubling down on his proposal to take over and clear out the Gaza Strip.

Neither the US nor Israel recognises the jurisdiction of the court, which recently issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his actions towards Palestinians in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7, 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump at the White House since his return as president.Credit: AP

The US “will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions” the order reads, blocking “ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members” from entering the US.

Thirty-six hours after shocking the world by suggesting the US should “own” and rebuild Gaza, Trump said the territory would be gifted to the US by Israel following its destruction of Hamas.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he posted on Truth Social. “The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”

Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, is Jewish, famously pro-Israel and was born in New York.

Trump went on to suggest the US, “working with great development teams from all over the world”, would rebuild Gaza into “one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on earth”. No military presence by the US would be required, he said.

The president’s announcement of his intent to remake Gaza, made in a joint news conference with Netanyahu, reportedly surprised the rest of the White House. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the proposal, casting it as primarily a clean-up mission to remove debris and weaponry.

“It’s an enormous undertaking,” he said. “It’s a unique offer ... But I think it’s one people need to think about seriously. It was not meant as a hostile move. It was meant as, I think, a very generous move.”

Rubio said people – referring to Palestinians living in Gaza – would obviously have to live elsewhere while the land was cleared and rebuilt, but at the end they would be able to “move back in”.

His characterisation of the plan was closer to that advanced by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, who said Palestinians would be “temporarily relocated” elsewhere rather than permanently moved, as Trump had suggested alongside Netanyahu on Tuesday.

Donald Trump called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a “Palestinian”, even though Schumer is an American Jew. Credit: Bloomberg

However, the proposal has been criticised as ethnic cleansing, and would enact a long-held goal of Israel’s hard right to expel Palestinians from Gaza.

The golden pager gift from Benjamin Netanyahu to Donald Trump.

Former Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said encouraging Gazans to emigrate was “the only solution to the Gaza problem … the strategy for the ‘day after’.”

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the Israel Defence Forces to prepare plans “that will allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so”. Options would include land crossings and special air or sea departures, he said.

“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse,” Katz said in a statement posted on X.

“Countries like Canada, which has a structured immigration program, have previously expressed willingness to take in residents from Gaza. The people of Gaza should have the right to freedom of movement and migration, as is customary everywhere in the world.”

The Times of Israel reported Katz convened a meeting of senior defence officials on Thursday evening, local time, to discuss the plans.

Meanwhile, Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against Trump’s extraordinary proposal, warning it would put its peace deal with Israel at risk.

One Egyptian official told AP the message had been delivered to the Pentagon, the State Department and members of the US Congress.

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up next to destroyed buildings in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip.Credit: AP

During Netanyahu’s multi-day visit to Washington, which included a meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon, the Israeli leader gifted Trump a golden pager – a reference to his country’s detonation last year of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon and Syria.

The gift “symbolises the prime minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war”, Netanyahu’s office told Israeli media.

with AP

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