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Two pro-Palestine groups<\/span> filed a lawsuit Wednesday that takes aim at U.S. sanctions against international human rights groups linked to efforts to hold Israel accountable for war crimes.<\/p>\n The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court by Democracy for the Arab World Now, or DAWN, and Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide, seeks to reverse sanctions brought under Executive Order 14203.<\/p>\n The order, which President Donald Trump made in February 2025, grants the administration power to issue penalties against any person or group seeking to bring a case against the U.S. or its allies \u2014 namely Israel \u2014 before the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs, both of whom coordinate with international NGOs in an effort to hold the U.S. and Israel accountable for war crimes, are seeking a declaration that the ICC sanctions are in violation of their First Amendment rights because they create obstacles to free association. The lawsuit also asks for an injunction barring the Trump administration from using sanctions to stymie free speech.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s assault on the ICC \u2014 most recently including a vow to \u201cdismantle\u201d the court \u2014 has focused mostly on efforts to hold Israel accountable for war crimes. In November 2024, the court issued arrest warrants<\/a> for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, another Israeli official, and an official with the armed Palestinian group Hamas for activities during the time period of Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n The White House executive order came down shortly after the arrest warrants were issued.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The rights groups\u2019 lawsuit specifically highlights sanctions against Francesca Albanese<\/a>, the U.N. official tasked with probing human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, and three Palestinian nongovernmental organizations<\/a>. According to the plaintiffs, the sanctions impinge on their First Amendment rights by preventing them from engaging in protected speech activities with Albanese and the NGOs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d said Omar Shakir, the executive director of DAWN, which was founded<\/a> by journalist Jamal Khashoggi before his assassination by the Saudi government. \u201cThe government is violating the constitutional rights of American citizens in order to shield officials of a foreign government who have committed a genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n The defendants named in the suit are Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Brad Smith, the director of the Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control. (None of the American government officials immediately responded to requests for comment.)<\/p>\n Trump and his allies\u2019 war on the international human rights community goes back years: In 2020, Trump issued sanctions against an ICC prosecutor<\/a> after she called for an investigation into U.S. human rights abuses in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n Shortly after retaking the White House, Trump lifted Biden-era sanctions on Israeli settlers<\/a> involved in violence against Palestinians<\/a> and destruction of their property. Trump then issued Executive Order 14203, \u201cImposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,\u201d which placed visa restrictions and financial penalties on individuals and groups seeking to help the ICC in any potential case against the U.S., Israel, or other allies.<\/p>\n