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A parliamentary document says the legislation "must be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over" the territory.
Faced with repeated threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to take over resource-rich Greenland, the Danish territory's parliament on Tuesday enacted a ban on foreign political donations, ahead of its March 11 elections.
The new measure—which also bars political parties in the self-governing territory from accepting domestic donations above 200,000 Danish kroner (about $27,700) or 20,000 kroner (about $2,770) from a single contributor—is intended to protect "Greenland's political integrity," The Associated Pressreported, citing a parliamentary document translated from Danish.
The document states that the legislation "must be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over and controlling Greenland."
According to the AP:
A senior legal officer at Greenland's parliament, Kent Fridberg, told The Associated Press he did not know whether any foreign donors had contributed to Greenland's political parties and the idea for the bill was "basically a preventative measure."
Fridberg noted that some Russian politicians had voiced a similar interest—and that political parties in Greenland are generally funded by public means.
Even before returning to the White House last month, Trump revived his first-term interest in making Greenland part of the United States. In early January, he even refused to rule out using military force to seize both the autonomous island nation and the Panama Canal.
Danish and Greenlandic leaders have forcefully pushed back against Trump's remarks, and polling published last week by a pair of newspapers—Denmark's Berlingske and Greenland's Sermitsiaq—shows that 85% of Greenlanders oppose joining the U.S.
Public opinion polling conducted in Greenland in 2018 has also received fresh attention recently, including from Trump himself. Gustav Agneman, an associate professor of economics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, was part of the team that conducted those older surveys, which he discussed in a Tuesday piece for The Conversation.
"Two-thirds of the participants thought that 'Greenland should become an independent country at some point in the future,'" he noted. "Opinions were more divergent regarding the timing of independence. When asked how they would vote in an independence referendum if it were held today, respondents who stated a preference were evenly split between 'yes' and 'no' to independence."
As Agneman detailed:
Each year, Denmark sends a block grant that covers approximately half of Greenland's budget. This supports a welfare system that is more extensive than what is available to most Americans. In addition, Denmark administers many costly public services, including national defense.
This backdrop presents a dilemma for many Greenlanders who aspire to independence, as they weigh welfare concerns against political sovereignty. This was also evident from my study, which revealed that economic considerations influence independence preferences.
For many Greenlanders, the island nation’s rich natural resources present a potential bridge between economic self-sufficiency and full sovereignty. Foreign investments and the associated tax revenues from resource extraction are seen as key to reducing economic dependence on Denmark. Presumably, these natural resources, which include rare earths and other strategic minerals, also help explain Trump's interest in Greenland.
During a January appearance on Fox News, Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, made clear why the Republican has renewed interest in the takeover of the nearby territory, saying: "It's oil and gas. It's our national security. It's critical minerals."
One of the most outspoken critics of Trump's plan is leftist Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede, who supports independence and has said: "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom."
Announcing the elections for Greenland's parliament, the Inatsisartut, Egede said on Facebook Tuesday that "we are facing an unprecedented and challenging time," and stressed the need "for cooperation and unity" among the island's roughly 60,000 residents.
Journalist Jeremy Scahill noted that Mike Waltz's comments echo "a plan Netanyahu has hinted at: Israel views this deal as only one phase to get the Israeli and U.S. hostages out."
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick to serve as national security adviser said late Wednesday that the incoming administration will support future Israeli attacks on Gaza even as Trump hailed the tenuous new cease-fire and hostage-release agreement as a signal "to the entire world that my administration would seek peace."
In an appearance on Fox News late Wednesday after the agreement was announced, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) said that "we've made it very clear to the Israelis, and I want the people of Israel to hear me on this: If they need to go back in [to Gaza], we're with them."
"Hamas is not going to continue as a military entity and it's certainly not going to govern Gaza," Waltz added.
The national security adviser nominee expressed a similar position in a podcast appearance prior to the announcement of the cease-fire deal, which is currently in jeopardy as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Hamas of reneging on the terms of the agreement—a claim Hamas has rejected.
Asked whether a cease-fire agreement would mean "the war is over," Waltz said, "Hamas would like to believe that."
"But we've been clear that Gaza has to be fully demilitarized, Hamas has to be destroyed to the point that it cannot reconstitute, and that Israel has every right to fully protect itself," he added. "All of those objectives are still very much in place."
"We need to get our people out," Waltz continued, "and then we need to achieve those objectives in this war."
Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz lays out a plan Netanyahu has hinted at: Israel views this deal as only one phase to get the Israeli and U.S. hostages out. He says Hamas will be destroyed and Gaza totally demilitarized. pic.twitter.com/4aBsPgXY3q
— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) January 16, 2025
Drop Site's Jeremy Scahill noted that the approach Waltz laid out mirrors "a plan Netanyahu has hinted at: Israel views this deal as only one phase to get the Israeli and U.S. hostages out."
Last month, Netanyahu said that Israeli forces would "return to fighting" once hostages are freed.
"There is no point in pretending otherwise," said Netanyahu, "because returning to fighting is needed in order to complete the goals of the war."
Under the first phase of the deal announced Wednesday, a six-week cease-fire would begin as soon as Sunday and 33 hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees. The second and third stages of the deal are contingent upon negotiations that will take place during the first.
The text also stipulates the "withdrawal of Israeli forces eastwards from densely populated areas along the borders of the Gaza Strip" and a reduction of Israeli troop presence in the Philadelphi corridor—an issue that has repeatedly emerged as a sticking point in cease-fire negotiations.
The agreement states that "the Israeli side will gradually reduce the forces in the corridor area during stage 1 based on the accompanying maps and the agreement between both sides."
"After the last hostage release of stage one, on day 42, the Israeli forces will begin their withdrawal and complete it no later than day 50," the text continues.
But Netanyahu's office insisted Thursday that the same number of forces would remain in the corridor during the deal's first phase—a position that critics said runs counter to the agreement.
While Trump and his allies celebrated the announced agreement as a master stroke of dealmaking and aid groups voiced hope for some reprieve for devastated Palestinians in Gaza, Netanyahu's spokesman toldThe New York Times in a text message that "there isn't any deal at the moment."
Israel's cabinet was expected to vote on the deal Thursday, but Netanyahu delayed the meeting and accused Hamas of trying to "extort last-minute concessions."
Hamas officials denied the charge, saying they are committed to the agreed-upon text.
Ruby Chen, the father of a 19-year-old Israeli-American soldier who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023, suggested Thursday that Netanyahu "might be looking to get out of" the deal as he faces backlash from far-right members of his coalition.
Citing unnamed sources, The Washington Postreported Thursday that "behind closed doors, Netanyahu has been promising his far-right allies that the war could resume after the first, 42-day phase of the cease-fire, when Hamas is to release 33 hostages in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners."
Paul Pillar, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote Thursday that "there remains the possibility that a renewed war in Gaza will, beginning a few weeks from now, become a problem for Trump just as it was for Biden."
"But two main factors will incline President Trump not to exert any pressure on the Israeli government to turn away from renewing its devastation and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip," Pillar predicted. "One is Trump's relationship with his domestic evangelical political base, with its unconditional support for most anything Israel does. The other is that his ally Netanyahu has done him a big favor with his handling of the ceasefire negotiations, and now Trump owes Netanyahu favors in return."
According to one Israeli report, Trump offered Netanyahu a "gift bag" of concessions in exchange for accepting a pre-inauguration cease-fire deal, including sanctions relief for violent Israeli settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank.
"As fires rage across Los Angeles, the priority of American officials is to sanction the ICC," said one critic.
Forty-five congressional Democrats on Thursday voted with the U.S. House of Representatives' Republican majority in favor of legislation to sanction International Criminal Court officials following the tribunal's issuance of arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and his former defense chief for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza.
House lawmakers voted 243-140 in favor of H.R. 23, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act. Introduced by Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.), the bill would "impose sanctions with respect to the International Criminal Court (ICC) engaged in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies."
In November, the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, "for crimes against humanity and war crimes" in Gaza. According to Gaza officials, Israel's 15-month assault and "complete siege" of the embattled coastal enclave have left more than 165,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing, and over 2 million others forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.
The ICC also ordered the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and subsequent kidnapping and imprisonment of more than 250 people.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)—who according to AIPAC Tracker is the top congressional recipient of campaign contributions from pro-Israel lobbyists including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—said on social media ahead of Thursday's vote that "the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants against the leadership of Israel represents the weaponization of international law at its most egregious."
Mast, the new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the ICC of "legitimizing the false accusations of Israeli war crimes... in order to stop the overwhelming success of Israeli military operations."
However, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of 140 Democrats who voted against the bill, said on social media that "human rights lawyers and others documenting the worst atrocities committed on this planet are heroes who should be celebrated—not punished when the war criminals they pursue are allies of the United States."
"The way this bill is written, Israeli survivors of the Hamas massacres on October 7th who gave testimony about the crimes they endured could be sanctioned for cooperating with the ICC," she continued. "This bill would also be a significant blow to efforts to secure justice for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's victims in Ukraine, and for the victims of both genocides in Darfur,
including the one that is ongoing."
"However my colleagues feel about the ICC or how they feel about Netanyahu's atrocities in Gaza, the passage of this bill is a profound mistake," Omar added. "For those reasons, I opposed this bill."
Amnesty International USA called the vote "deeply disappointing."
"The ICC is part of a global system of international justice of which the U.S. was a chief architect at Nuremberg and beyond," added Amnesty—whose main international organization recently accused Israel of genocide and suspended its Israeli branch for alleged anti-Palestinian bigotry. "If the Senate follows suit, it will do grave harm to the interests of all victims globally and to the U.S. government's ability to champion human rights and the cause of justice."
The United States—which supports Israel with tens of billions of dollars in armed aid and diplomatic cover—reportedly worked with Israel to thwart the ICC's effort to arrest Israeli leaders. The U.S. also opposes the South African-led genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice.
Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned the ICC's effort to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant—who despite being a fugitive from justice was warmly welcomed at the White House last month.
During his first term, Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump sanctioned top ICC officials and banned them from entering the United States.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), Trump's pick for national security adviser, has threatened a "strong response" to the ICC in retaliation for seeking to arrest the Israeli leaders.