US House backs international court sanctions over Israeli warrants

The House on Thursday passed a bill that would impose sanctions on International Criminal Court officials in retaliation for their issuance of an arrest warrant last year against Israel’s leader for his wartime actions in the Gaza Strip.

The bipartisan vote, 243-140, in favor of the legislation showed that supporting Israel in its military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues to draw majority support on Capitol Hill even as most House Democrats voted against the bill.

There were 45 Democrats who voted for the legislation, similar to the 42 who voted for a virtually identical version last summer.

House Rules ranking member Jim McGovern of Massachusetts was the only Democrat who spoke against the bill during the hourlong debate. That was because many in his conference were across town at the Washington National Cathedral for the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. The vote was held open for two hours to accommodate lawmakers attending the service.

McGovern called it incongruous for lawmakers to vote on a bill to sanction ICC officials for seeking accountability for alleged Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights on the day of Carter’s funeral. The 39th president was closely associated during his long post-presidency with his advocacy for human rights.

“The Republicans think this is so very important, such an emergency that we have to debate it during the first week of Congress, during Jimmy Carter’s funeral, by the way, which is offensive considering his record on actually standing up for human rights, which is the opposite of what this bill does,” McGovern said.

McGovern said Republicans were showing their priorities at a time when Americans were dealing with more pressing concerns, such as the climate change-influenced massive wildfires in the Los Angeles area or the roughly 40 million Americans who don’t have enough to eat.

“I actually listened to people in my district … and I asked them what they want Congress to work on. Not once, never ever have I heard them talk about sanctioning the ICC as one of their priorities,” he said.

Republicans said their ICC sanctions legislation, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who also sponsored last year’s bill, was a necessary response to what they view as the Hague-based court’s prosecutorial overreach.

“The International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction over the people of the United States, should have no authority over our people, no authority over the prime minister of Israel. Yet, it is extending into the people of Israel’s business in defending their interest against violent attack by Hamas, which we define as a terrorist entity,” Roy said in floor remarks.

Neither Israel nor the U.S. are members of the ICC. Republicans and some Democrats are outraged by the court’s November decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for their handling of the war in Gaza.

Without a forceful response to the precedent the ICC is setting by going after Israel, the thinking goes, the court may one day hand down indictments against current and former U.S. officials for alleged human rights crimes in Afghanistan.

Roy’s legislation would require the president within 60 days to freeze assets and impose travel bans on any ICC officials involved in bringing indictments against “protected” persons, which the bill defines as current and former members of the U.S. military and the U.S. government as well as citizens of foreign allies that are not party to the ICC. The sanctions would apply to the immediate family members of ICC officials as well as individuals who have provided financial or technical assistance to the court in support of its investigation and prosecution of U.S. or Israeli persons.

“America is passing this law because a kangaroo court is seeking to arrest the prime minister of our great ally, Israel, who is not only responding to an enemy…who still holds 100 hostages, scores of bodies of those that they murdered (following the Oct. 7 attack), including seven of my fellow Americans,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in floor remarks. “What the ICC is doing with their arrest warrants is legitimizing the false accusations of Israeli war crimes in order…to stop the overwhelming success of Israeli military operations.”

The ICC has defended its indictments as appropriate since it recognizes Palestine as a member country even though the U.S. and Israel don’t recognize Palestinian sovereignty. Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of the war crimes of using starvation as a method of warfare and of deliberately directing military attacks against civilians in Gaza.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has an absolute right to defend his people, but there is no international right to vengeance and what we are seeing in Gaza is vengeance,” McGovern said. “Have we just given up on the idea of human rights? At least 45,000 people have been killed in the war in Gaza.”

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