Facing the scenario of being banned from entering the US, where she lives with her husband and their two children, Amal Clooney, because of her connection to the International Criminal Court in the case of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The British Foreign Office recently warned lawyers advising the International Criminal Court (ICC), including Amal Clooney, that they risk facing sanctions if they fall under Executive Order 14203, signed by President Donald Trump in February. The Financial Times reports that under the order, the court “took illegal and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

The British-Lebanese lawyer, wife of American actor George Clooney and human rights activist, is believed to have been instrumental in the decision to prosecute and issue arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Galland for war crimes in Gaza. That’s because the court last year asked her to join a team of international legal experts to evaluate evidence of suspected war crimes in Israel and Gaza.

Trump sanctions

In his executive order, Donald Trump ordered financial sanctions and visa restrictions on officials, employees, and immediate relatives of the International Criminal Court for what he claims are “baseless” arrest warrants.

ICC prosecutor Kareem Khan, who initially pushed the court to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galad in May 2024, is the only person from the high-profile case named in Trump’s executive order. Many believe Clooney is the next target.

The panel, which included Amal Clooney, unanimously decided that the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed during Israel’s war against Hamas and recommended that both Hamas and Israel’s leaders be held accountable. In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galland because there were “reasonable grounds” to conclude that the two men “deliberately and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of items necessary for their survival.”

Amal Clooney, now 47, is a lawyer in Britain and the US. As a mother of seven twin children, she and her husband live mostly between Britain and Italy. They are temporarily residing in New York as George Clooney is starring in the Broadway show “Good Night and Good Luck,” based on the film of the same name.