Published Aug 1, 2026, 5:02 PM EDT
Trump admits Rubio’s ICC campaign protects Netanyahu, exposing selective U.S. objections to international law and accountability.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has presented his campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a defense of American sovereignty and U.S. service members. President Donald Trump supplied a more immediate explanation during a July 31 Cabinet meeting: “He is trying to defend Bibi and various other people, but there are many people that shouldn't be looked at that way, but there is no indication that I'm one of them at this moment.” Rubio returned to hypothetical arrests of American service members decades from now, seemingly an awkward pivot consider that Trump had just identified Netanyahu and others as the campaign’s actual beneficiaries. Rubio’s hypothetical is difficult to reconcile with the court’s record. The ICC does not disclose everyone examined during confidential investigations, but it has never charged an American or issued a warrant for one. Of the 61 arrest warrants issued in the court’s history, only four, or about 7%, have involved nationals of either a current U.S. mutual-defense treaty ally or Israel: Netanyahu, Gallant, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and former Philippine police chief Ronald dela Rosa. Its only public investigation encompassing alleged U.S. conduct concerned alleged mistreatment by military and CIA personnel connected to Afghanistan. The prosecutor de-prioritized those allegations in 2021 to focus on the Taliban and Islamic State-Khorasan Province.
