On Thursday, the House passed a law that will impose sanctions on the officials of the International Criminal Court, calling this court for criticizing its actions to charge the top leaders of Israel with war crimes for their attacks on Hamas in Gaza.
The bill directs the president to freeze assets and deny visas to any foreign national who has contributed financially or materially to a court’s efforts to “investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute a protected person.” Protected individuals are defined as all current and former military personnel and officials of the United States government and allies that have not accepted the court’s jurisdiction, such as Israel.
The measure is one of several pushed through the House by Republicans last year but died in the Democratic-led Senate, and now must be enacted now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress and Mr. January 20.
Last year, a similar measure received bipartisan support in the House but still faces opposition from many Democrats, who joined Republicans in criticizing the ICC’s move to prosecute Israeli leaders but called the sanctions overly broad and ineffective. With the Republicans now in power, the obstacles to the passage of this bill seem to have fallen.
“The brutal actions of the ICC only serve the terrorists who want to remove Israel from the map, and they will not be allowed to stand unchecked,” said Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said on the floor this week. “In November, I promised that if Leader Schumer would not bring down the ICC sanctions bill, Republicans would. And soon we will fulfill that promise and have a vote to support our friend Israel.”
The 243 to 140 vote in the House, in which 45 Democrats joined all Republicans in support of the bill, showed deep disagreement among lawmakers over the court’s decision to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity and Hamas leaders. , his deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the bloodshed began in the Gaza Strip.
“The United States is passing this law because a kangaroo court wants to imprison the prime minister of our greatest ally,” said Representative Brian Mast, Republican of Florida and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaking from the floor. He accused the court of being anti-Semitic, trying to prevent Israeli forces from succeeding and thwarting efforts to free Israeli and American hostages held by Hamas.
“This bill sends an incredibly important message to the rest of the world,” added Mr. “Don’t get in the way of America or our allies trying to bring our people home. You will not be given a quarter, and again, you will not be welcome on American soil.”
The United States has sent billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel since the start of the arms race, despite international criticism of its Gaza offensive and claims by human rights groups that its actions there amount to genocide. Attempts to sell a ceasefire have eluded the Biden administration. Mr. Trump said this week that if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages at his inauguration, “all hell will break loose in the Middle East.”
Congressman Republicans have been trying to censure the court since May, when the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza; Ismail Haniyeh, its Qatar-based chief; and Muhammad Deif, its chief military commander. The House first passed a bill to impose sanctions on court officials and their associates two weeks later.
In November, the court issued warrants for Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Gallant and Mr. Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity. At that time, Mr. Sinwar and Mr. Haniyeh was confirmed to have been killed by Israeli soldiers. Israel also said that he killed Mr. Deif.
Supporters of the bill say the sanctions are a necessary rebuke to the court’s move to equate Israel’s leaders with top terrorist groups such as Hamas. They also emphasized that this step is an important rejection of what they see as the passing of the court, since Israel, like the United States, has not recognized its authority.
The bill is “important not only to our friendship with our partner Israel but also to our national security, to protect our men and women in uniform,” said Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas and author of the bill. down. He said that if the United States fails to impose sanctions on the court, the members of the US may be targeted for their behavior in foreign conflicts.
ICC, Mr. Roy added, “it should not have authority over our people, and authority over the prime minister of Israel.”
Most Democrats oppose the law, saying it is trying to punish a large number of people with this decision.
“Republicans want to punish the ICC simply because they don’t want the rules to apply to everyone,” said Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts. “There are no international countries. the right to revenge, and what we are seeing in Gaza is revenge.”
The International Criminal Court seeks jurisdiction over alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by citizens of states that have recognized the court or that occurred in countries that have recognized the court. The Palestinian Territories did so in 2015, a few years after the United Nations recognized Palestine as an observer state.
The United States and Israel were among only 7 countries that voted against the creation of the criminal court in 1998. Although both countries later signed its founding document, the Rome Statute, neither country ratified it.
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