On Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to arrest warrants issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Al Jazeera reported.
The bill, titled the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” passed with a vote of 243 to 140, signalling strong support for Israel. According to Al Jazeera, 45 Democrats joined 198 Republicans in backing the bill, with no Republican opposition. The Senate will now consider the bill, which is under Republican control.
“America is passing this law because a kangaroo court is seeking to arrest the prime minister of our great ally, Israel,” said Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as quoted by Al Jazeera. The proposed sanctions target any individual or entity that aids the ICC in its efforts to investigate, arrest, or prosecute US citizens or citizens of allied nations that do not recognise the court’s authority, Al Jazeera reported.
Sanctions would include freezing assets and denying visas to those contributing to the ICC’s actions. The ICC’s arrest warrants were issued in May 2023, accusing Netanyahu and Gallant of war crimes related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has led to significant casualties.
In response, the US legislators have called for action against the ICC, with the legislation now moving toward Senate approval. The move has been criticised by human rights organisations, who argue that the bill undermines an independent judicial institution and could harm global efforts for justice. Despite this, the Senate is expected to act quickly, allowing President-elect Donald Trump to sign the bill into law once he takes office.
In 2020, during his first term as president, Trump imposed sanctions on senior ICC officials due to the court’s investigations into US actions in Afghanistan and Israeli activities in Palestinian territories. President Biden later removed these sanctions.
The ICC, located in The Hague, Netherlands, is a permanent tribunal with the authority to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of aggression. Palestine has been a member of the ICC since 2015, and the court began investigating crimes committed by both Israeli and Hamas officials in 2019. Although Israel is not a member of the ICC, the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory of any member state, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator.
The US had occasionally supported the ICC, such as when the court’s prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Like Israel and the US, Russia is also not a member of the ICC.
