US Congress backs sanctions on ICC

The Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) in retaliation for the judicial body’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act would impose sanctions on ICC officials and entities supporting the court’s investigations, arrests, and detentions of Americans and citizens of allied countries. The legislation was passed 243 to 140 on Thursday.

In a statement ahead of the vote, Representative Brian Mast, who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called The Hague-based judiciary a “kangaroo court.”

The bill will now move to the Senate, where Republicans have the majority. The Democrats blocked a similar bill when they controlled the Senate in June.

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In November, the ICC issued warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as three senior Hamas members, on charges of committing war crimes in Gaza.

The Jewish state has dismissed the accusations as unjustified. “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and charges against it by the international criminal court, which is a biased and discriminatory political body,” Netanyahu said at the time.

The ICC lacks any means of enforcing its legal decisions without the active participation of states bound by the Rome Treaty. Israel, like the US, Russia, and China, does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.

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Israel has since killed Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, and claimed to have killed the group’s military chief, Mohammed Deif. All three were sought by the ICC. Hamas did not confirm Deif’s death.

More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting erupted in October 2023, according to the local Hamas-run authorities. Human rights groups and the UN have repeatedly called for a ceasefire, but the sides so far only agreed to a weeklong truce in November 2023.

The conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023 when Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israeli cities, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. Around 100 of them are still being held in Gaza.