The Trump administration on Monday threatened tough action against the International Criminal Court (ICC) should it try to prosecute Americans for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and said the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO's) office in Washington would be closed for seeking to punish Israel through the court.
"The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," national security adviser John Bolton told the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in his first major address since joining President Donald Trump's White House in April.
The US response could include sanctions against ICC judges should such prosecutions proceed, Bolton warned.
John Bolton speaks to the Federalist Society in Washington on September 10, 2018. /VCG Photo
He added that the PLO's office in Washington was being ordered closed out of concern about Palestinian attempts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel.
Bolton said he did not believe the closure of the PLO office in Washington would shut the door on a long-delayed Arab-Israeli peace plan that Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been developing for months.
He said the plan continued to be refined with an eye toward eventually proposing it.
John Bolton discusses "Protecting American Constitutionalism and Sovereignty from International Threats," at a forum hosted by the Federalist Society in Washington on September 10, 2018. /VCG Photo
The Palestinians said they were undeterred from going to the ICC. They deemed the planned PLO mission closure a new pressure tactic by a Trump administration that has slashed funding to a UN agency for Palestinian refugees and to hospitals in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of their state.
"We reiterate that the rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale, that we will not succumb to US threats and bullying," Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said in a statement.
Israel welcomed the Trump administration's move and accused the Palestinians of seeing the court as a way of sidestepping US-sponsored bilateral talks. Those contacts stalled in 2014.
"The Palestinians' resort to the ICC and refusal to negotiate with Israel and the United States is not the way to advance peace, and it is good that the United States is taking a clear stand on this matter," said an Israeli official who requested anonymity.