US under Trump becoming ‘increasingly complicit’ in Israel’s war crimes

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorising economic and travel sanctions against people who work on International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations of US citizens or US allies, such as Israel.

By authorising sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its employees, US President Donald Trump is reminding the world that Israel is above the law, Middle East Studies Professor Marc Owen Jones says, and that any case against it is also a case against the US.

“The US is complicit in Israel’s war crimes and it is becoming increasingly complicit under Trump,” Owen Jones, who lectures at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.

While former President Joe Biden had supported Israel while refraining from openly advocating in favour of committing war crimes, Trump’s approach is “gloves off”.

“Trump is explicitly advocating for ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” Owen Jones said. “In saying that the state of Gaza is so bad that people cannot possibly live there, he’s also acknowledging that it has been made uninhabitable, which is a war crime.”