Bolton makes a move

The United States will threaten Monday to punish individuals who cooperate with the International Criminal Court in a potential investigation of U.S. wartime actions in Afghanistan, according to people familiar with the decision.

The Trump administration is also expected to announce that it is shutting down a Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington because Palestinians have sought to use the international court to prosecute U.S. ally Israel, those people said.

White House national security adviser John Bolton is expected to outline threats of sanctions and a ban on travel to the United States for people involved in the attempted prosecution of Americans before the international court in an address Monday.

Bolton is a longtime opponent of the court on grounds that it violates national sovereignty.

The speech, titled “Protecting American Constitutionalism and Sovereignty from International Threats,” is Bolton’s first formal address since joining the administration in April. It is sponsored by the Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian policy group.

Palestinian officials on Monday vowed to fight what they called bullying tactics and “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people.

Trump’s war on the International Criminal Court is Bushism redux. 

The New York Times is reporting that National Security Advisor John Bolton is preparing to impose extensive sanctions on the International Criminal Court if it investigates alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan. The newspaper acquired the text of a speech Bolton scheduled for Monday. 

“The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” Bolton plans to say. “We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the U.S. We will sanction their funds in the U.S. financial system, and, we will prosecute them in the U.S. criminal system. We will do the same for any company or state that assists in an ICC investigation of Americans.” 

Bolton’s speech is combined with the Trump Administration’s decision to shutter the offices of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Washington, a move related to the campaign against the ICC. The Palestinian group has lodged complaints with the ICC about actions of the Israeli government, ranging from the building of settlements to the deployment of sharpshooters against protesters from Gaza. 

Bolton has long been skeptical of the ICC and these actions can be seen as a ramped up return to policies pursued by the Bush administration in 2002-2003. As The New York Times notes, “The United States declined to join the court during Mr. Bush’s first term, when Mr. Bolton was an under secretary of state and later ambassador to the United Nations. After he left the Bush administration, the White House showed a little less resistance to the court’s work, even expressing support for its investigation of atrocities in Darfur.”