US House Passes Bill to Sanction ICC Over Israeli Arrest Warrants, Setting Stage for Senate Vote
The US House of Representatives has voted decisively in favor of legislation to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), escalating the conflict between Washington and the Hague-based tribunal, Al Jazeera reports.
The “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” approved by a 243-140 margin on Thursday, is a direct response to the ICC’s arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The bill, which garnered significant bipartisan support with 45 Democrats joining 198 Republicans, is now heading to the Senate, where a Republican majority was recently sworn in. The legislation proposes broad sanctions against any foreign individual or entity deemed to be assisting the ICC in investigating, detaining, or prosecuting citizens of the US or allied nations that do not recognize the court’s authority. Notably, neither the US nor Israel are signatories to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
The proposed sanctions include the freezing of assets and the denial of U.S. visas to individuals who provide material or financial support to the ICC’s efforts. House leaders emphasized that the legislation was essential to support Israel, a key U.S. ally. The vote, one of the first since the new Congress was seated, underscores the strong backing for Israel’s government among President-elect Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans.
The move comes amidst mounting criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, where over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023. United Nations experts have raised concerns about Israel’s methods in Gaza, calling them “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.” This prompted the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, leading to the US legislative backlash.
In response to the ICC’s actions, US legislators quickly moved to propose retaliatory measures. Prior to the vote, human rights groups urged President Joe Biden to reject such punitive measures, arguing that they would harm the cause of justice for victims of international crimes. Critics contend that sanctioning the ICC undermines an independent judicial body and jeopardizes victims’ access to justice, adding that it would create “the stigma of siding with impunity over justice.”
Despite these concerns, the Senate, under Majority Leader John Thune, has pledged to swiftly consider the act, paving the way for President-elect Trump to potentially sign it into law once he assumes office on January 20th. Notably, this action aligns with Trump’s previous stance towards the ICC. During his first term, he sanctioned senior ICC leaders over investigations related to U.S. actions in Afghanistan and Israeli activities in occupied Palestinian territories, although these sanctions were later lifted by President Biden.
The ICC, based in The Hague, is a permanent international court with jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression. While Israel is not a member state, the court claims jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of a member state, such as Palestine, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator. The State of Palestine has been a member since 2015, and the court has been investigating crimes in the territory since 2019, targeting both Israeli and Hamas officials.
Interestingly, the US has not been entirely consistent in its relationship with the ICC. For example, the US supported the court’s push for an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over what it described as alleged war crimes in Ukraine. It is worth noting that Russia, like Israel and the US, is not a member of the ICC.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has defended the arrest warrants, asserting that his actions are in line with the court’s approach across all cases and are intended to prevent further ongoing crimes.
