A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from penalizing two U.S.-based organizations supporting the International Criminal Court’s investigations into alleged war crimes in Gaza. President Trump imposed sanctions on the court last year.
Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by the two organizations — Democracy for the Arab World Now, known as DAWN, and Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide, or TAAG — which said that Mr. Trump’s executive order placing sanctions on the I.C.C. violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment.
That February 2025 order directed federal agencies to “impose tangible and significant consequences” on people who worked on investigations that the Trump administration said threatened the national security of the United States and its allies, including Israel.
Mr. Trump imposed the sanctions after the court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The court said they had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu’s office and the United States have rejected the accusations.
The plaintiffs involved in Tuesday’s ruling are rights groups that had worked to gather information for the I.C.C. as it investigates allegations of war crimes against Palestinians.
In his ruling, Judge Furman said he issued the injunction because the groups were likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claims.
Neither the White House nor the State Department responded immediately to requests for comment on Tuesday night.
DAWN was founded by Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and dissident who wrote opinion pieces for The Washington Post and was assassinated in 2018.
A U.S. intelligence report released in 2021 said that the killing was carried out by operatives reporting to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Prince Mohammed has denied that he had prior knowledge of the plot against Mr. Khashoggi.
In a statement on Tuesday, DAWN said it would immediately resume its advocacy with the I.C.C. on the prosecution of war crimes.
“Today, a U.S. federal court has put the brakes in a major way on the Trump administration’s efforts to shield from justice the Israeli officials who have perpetrated a genocide and their U.S. backers,” said Omar Shakir, DAWN’s executive director.
TAAG was formed by 10 Americans who are preparing a submission to the I.C.C. “documenting the role of U.S. officials in aiding and abetting Israeli atrocity crimes in Gaza,” according to court documents.
In a statement after the ruling, TAAG said it would continue finalizing its submission of evidence to the court.
The judge declined the plaintiffs’ requests to declare the executive order unconstitutional and order a universal block on the sanctions. He directed the plaintiffs and the U.S. government to confer and submit a joint letter by next Tuesday before the court decides on a permanent injunction and final judgment.
Last week, the State Department announced severe financial sanctions on the I.C.C. The United States’ latest attempt to cripple the global body seeks to prohibit companies from doing business with the court, which could prevent it from carrying out its daily operations.
The Trump administration had imposed further sanctions on six of the court’s 18 judges and two of its prosecutors last year. It has also placed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories and an outspoken critic of Israel, for prompting the I.C.C. to take action against that country and the United States.
Ms. Albanese has denied accusations of antisemitism, dismissing them as an effort to deflect attention from atrocities being committed in Gaza and the West Bank.
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