From the Liveblog of
Friday, July 31, 2026
Trump says Rubio’s initiative to bring ICC ‘to heel’ is in order to ‘defend Bibi and others’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Addressing a cabinet meeting at Camp David, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlights the US President Donald Trump administration’s efforts to bring the International Criminal Court to its knees.
“The International Criminal Court has made themselves illegitimate because they claim that even if you’re not a member of that court, we can come after you,” Rubio says.
“We tried to get them to reform and listen to us, they wouldn’t do it. They’re very arrogant. So we’ve now begun an effort to really try to bring them to heel,” he adds.
Trump chimes in to clarify that Rubio is not advancing the initiative to defend him since the ICC is not currently seeking to prosecute the US president.
“He’s trying to defend Bibi and various other people,” Trump adds, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rubio goes on to tout the administration’s brokering of agreements between Israel and Lebanon as well as the disarmament deal between the Board of Peace and Hamas — “something a lot of people thought would never happen. It needs to happen, but the fact that people agree to it is a real achievement.
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