Israel welcomes the decree of US President Donald Trump, which provides for sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), reported Agence France-Presse, BTA reports.
The ICC is acting "in an aggressive manner against the leaders of Israel, which is the only democracy in the Middle East", Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on the social network "Ex". He added that the measures that the ICC is taking against representatives of Israel and the United States have no legitimacy, since both countries do not recognize the jurisdiction of the court.
The European Union expressed its objection, calling Trump's decree "a threat" to the independence of the ICC. The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, commented in "Ex" that sanctioning the ICC "creates a risk to the independence of the court and undermines the entire system of international justice".
According to the text published by the White House, the decree prohibits the entry into the United States of leaders and employees of the ICC, as well as their immediate family members. In addition, it provides for the freezing of their assets in the United States. The decree is motivated by the fact that the ICC has taken "illegal and unjustified actions" against the United States and its ally Israel, citing investigations into alleged war crimes committed by American soldiers in Afghanistan and by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip.