Children walking by a destroyed mosque in the Gaza Strip. © 2009 UNRWA Photo by Shareef Sarhan. CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
Tariq Ra’ouf is a Palestinian American author, an activist with the Global Sumud Flotilla, and a co-founder of Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG). Anna Marie Stenberg is a US taxpaying citizen of Lebanese descent, a lifelong human rights advocate, and co-founder of TAAG. These are the statements that they gave at a press conferenceconvened by the human rights organization DAWN and TAAG to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit on July 15, 2026, against the Trump Administration for its Executive Order on the International Criminal Court (ICC). This order gives the Administration the power to sanction “foreigners” involved in ICC investigations of U.S. and Israeli officials. The order also prohibits U.S. citizens from providing or receiving “services” to and from these sanctioned individuals and organizaitons. In their lawsuit, TAAG and DAWN argue that this violates the 1st Amendment rights of U.S. citizens to share information and evidence with the ICC against U.S. officials, as well as to communicate and work with sanctioned individuals such as UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and sanctioned organizations like the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
In these two statements, Tariq and Anna Marie explain why they are among the TAAG plaintiffs and why the lawsuit matters. TAAG and DAWN are seeking an injunction from a federal judge to protect their right to submit evidence to the ICC against U.S. and Israeli officials and to communicate with the above named sanctioned parties. TAAG members have gathered massive evidence against Trump, Rubio, and other U.S. officials for their participation in the ongoing genocide in Palestinian that they hope to submit to the ICC.
Tariq Ra’ouf’s Statement:
Over the last three years, 49 of my family members have been killed by American-made and funded weaponry, and now the United States is trying to avoid accountability by going against the International Criminal Court and anyone who dares to work with them.
Just this week, Marco Rubio and the United States have doubled down on their attacks on the International Criminal Court, with Rubio writing a lengthy and pathetic opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, explaining why the US is choosing “to dismantle” the ICC. He claims that the court’s actions against US officials are “illegitimate interventions” that interfere with American military and law enforcement operations, and in a subsequent video released on Twitter Rubio says, “If we stand idle, [the US] will be at the mercy of foreign judges, thousands of miles away – facing the constant risk of prosecution and even imprisonment for the so-called ‘crime’ of defending their own country.”
But here’s the thing: the word ‘defense’ has been used to justify some of the most serious violations of international humanitarian law, and acts of pure depravity quite literally, for as long as this country has existed. It began with the idea of settlers coming to America and “defending” themselves against people they called “savages,” as early American militias ransacked, pilfered and decimated Native American villages in order to claim the very land the United States is built on. Today, the idea of “self-defense” is used to excuse the indefensible—the funding and arming of Israel’s genocide in Palestine. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry has confirmed that Israel has deliberately and illegally targeted Palestinian children, with at least 20,179 children killed and 44,143 children injured since October 7. There is no defending such hostile and inhumane actions. The International Criminal Court is one of the only mechanisms the world has to hold those responsible accountable for these crimes.
The United States wants to say that because they are not a state party to the Rome Statute that founded the International Criminal Court, that the ICC has no jurisdiction, but article 12(2)(a) of the Rome Statute expressly authorizes the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of a State Party—regardless of the perpetrator’s nationality. Palestine is a State Party, and any individuals who provide the weapons and support that make these crimes possible are participating in crimes committed on Palestinian territory. Therefore, the ICC has every right to hold the US and Israeli officials accountable for their crimes.
And as Americans, we have every right to work with international organizations and foreign nationals who are trying to use the ICC to seek justice, especially considering the fact that our own government has become so hostile towards anyone that dares to fight back here at home. It makes me think about the people who are trying to stop ICE from illegally kidnapping law-abiding individuals, and how they are called terrorists and shot in the face; and this kind of behavior from US officials at the international level is just another form of the same violence. We are standing at a crossroads, trying to prevent the US from committing more crimes, the same way activists in the US are standing in front of ICE, and this attempt by Rubio is the US’s attempt to shoot justice in the face, but we will not be deterred by such repugnant hubris.
I refuse to sit by and watch this government kill my cousins, aunts and uncles and try to worm their way out of accountability. One of my aunts was killed when she was at a Gaza Humanitarian Fund aid distribution site — she was trying to get flour to feed her family and she was shot down, like so many other hungry and displaced Palestinians who came to these places seeking help only to find more death and destruction. If we sit back and allow the United States to try and dismantle one of the only mechanisms this world has for seeking justice, they will continue their tradition of “defending” themselves with more terrorism and violence.
As American taxpayers, it is our duty to stand up and fight against the way our tax dollars are being used. No longer will we sit down as money from our paychecks is being used to kill children, while our own children are lacking the healthcare and education they deserve. Over the last three years, I’m happy to say the number of Americans who have woken up to the lies of “defense” that this nation keeps telling has skyrocketed, and I know that no matter what happens next, there is no turning back to the days we believed this nation has ever defended anything other than its thirst for power.
Anna Marie Stenberg’s Statement:
TAAG is a grassroots organization of U.S. taxpayers who are committed to holding U.S. officials criminally accountable for their participation in and enabling the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
Over the past 2 1/2 years, TAAG members have not stood idly by while U.S. officials used our tax dollars to carry out crimes against humanity in Palestine. This Genocide could not be happening without the participation of the U.S. gov. officials using our tax dollars. TAAG members have tried everything within the U.S. to hold these officialsaccountable—through legislative engagement, legal action, public campaigns, and direct appeals to government officials. These efforts have been met with silence and inaction. U.S. officials continue to operate with full impunity, and there is no genuine domestic proceeding that could or would hold them accountable for these international crimes. This must be stopped!
We now turn to the ICC as the only international body that can investigate, arrest, and prosecute government officials for genocide and other crimes against humanity.
For months, members of TAAG have gathered substantial evidence of the participation of U.S. officials, most notably Trump and Rubio in the crime of genocide. For instance, the US has continued to supply Israel with 2000-pound bombs made by General Dynamics here in America that are being used to level Gaza and kill untold numbers of children, men, women, mothers, and fathers.
Another example of the crime of genocide is that while Israel blocked all food, medicines and humanitarian assistance from entering Gaza, the U.S. defunded UNRWA, which had 400 food distribution sites in Gaza and the US supported the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF that had only 4 distribution sites for all of Gaza during a starvation epidemic. By the end of May, 2025 it had been well documented that at least 400 Palestinians seeking food had been shot and killed at or near these GHF sites. Despite this, Secretary of State Marco Rubio authorized $30 million in U.S. taxpayer funds to be sent to the GHF. The killings continued! By September 17, 2025, the United Nations had recorded a total of at least 2,319 people killed their only crime was trying to obtain food and humanitarian assistance.
TAAG is prepared to submit that evidence and much more to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor. We are blocked in doing so by Trump’s executive order and that is why we are proud to be co-plaintiffs with DAWN and stand together today in filing this lawsuit.
Personally, as a mother and a grandmother, this is something I must do! I cannot, I will not!, be a bystander to Genocide! We welcome others joining us in this effort to ensure that all Americans obey the law and do not commit genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
