Pro-Palestinian NGOs sue Trump administration over ICC sanctions

ByMATHILDA HELLERJULY 19, 2026 19:14Two pro-Palestine NGOs have filed a First Amendment lawsuit targeting the Trump administration's sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC).Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG) filed the lawsuit in the federal court in Manhattan last week. They claim that Executive Order 14203, issued in February 2025, violates Americans' constitutional right to engage in Palestine-related human rights advocacy.EO 14203 declares that certain actions by the ICC pose a threat to US national security and foreign policy, particularly investigations involving US personnel and allies such as Israel. The order authorizes the US government to impose financial sanctions (such as asset freezes) and visa restrictions on foreign individuals who directly participate in or materially assist ICC investigations, arrests, or prosecutions of US personnel or "protected persons," which include certain officials of US allies, including Israel.ICC's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuThe order specifically cites the ICC's arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as an example of what it describes as the Court's "illegitimate and baseless actions."Under EO 14203, the Trump administration has sanctioned ICC prosecutors and judges, as well as pro-Palestine NGOs like al-Haq, al-Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).Benjamin Netanyahu in front of the ICC headquarters (illustrative). (credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS, Canva, PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW/REUTERS)DAWN and TAAG claim the order is based on false claims that the ICC lacks jurisdiction over crimes committed by US and Israeli nationals and that those countries "strictly adhere to the laws of war."They also claim that the sanctions unconstitutionally restrict Americans from seeking justice for Palestine at the ICC and working with human rights defenders designated solely for calling on the ICC to investigate Israeli and American nationals.The lawsuit argues that the sanctions violate the First Amendment both by limiting what Americans can say to an international tribunal or to foreign advocates and by limiting their ability to associate with the sanctioned parties. It further seeks a court order barring the administration from using the EO to prevent US citizens from supporting investigations into "US and Israeli abuses, and from working with sanctioned human rights defenders.""The Trump administration is using the blunt instrument of economic sanctions not only to punish human rights defenders but to police the political expression of millions of Americans," said Omar Shakir, executive director of DAWN, adding that the government is "violating the constitutional rights of American citizens in order to shield officials of a foreign government who have committed genocide.""The US government has the largest megaphone in the world and it is perfectly capable of pleading its case, or Israel's," said Joseph Pace of J. Pace Law, PLLC, plaintiffs' counsel. "What it cannot do is bar Americans from sharing a contrary perspective with the ICC, much less criminalize contact with non-American human rights defenders whose only 'misdeed' was calling for justice for US and Israeli crimes.""With this executive order, Trump has put himself and those in the US government above the law, shielding them from any accountability for their roles in the genocide in Palestine and Lebanon and for war crimes around the globe funded by US taxpayers," said Tarik Kanaana, president of TAAG."As US taxpayers, we have the right to hold our government accountable for how it uses this public resource. That right cannot be taken away."'A confession with a case number'Mark Goldfeder, CEO and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, tore apart the lawsuit, arguing that DAWN and TAAG are advancing a civil case rather than a federal one.He stated that, to sue in federal court, one generally has to show they have suffered a real injury. Goldfeder argued that nobody has prosecuted DAWN, fined them or threatened them. Instead, DAWN says in the lawsuit that they stopped doing certain activities because they were afraid they might get sanctioned. Goldfeder argued that this is self-censorship, not actual government action."The Supreme Court has seen this show before," he wrote in the National Review. "In Clapper v. Amnesty International, human rights lawyers claimed the mere prospect of government surveillance had forced them to change how they worked, and the Court answered that plaintiffs “cannot manufacture standing” by injuring themselves over hypothetical future harm."Goldfeder also called the lawsuit "a confession with a case number," writing that the plaintiffs practically admit they're doing exactly what the EO prohibits. In the lawsuit, the groups say that have supplied evidence, coordinated messaging, and offered legal training to ICC personnel, which Goldfeder says is like telling the court they are engaging in the very conduct the sanctions were designed to stop."The lawsuit practically writes its own motion to dismiss," he concluded.Follow us on Google