Bill sanctioning ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant passes in US House, goes to Senate

The US Senate, now controlled by the GOP, will take up the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, after it passed 243-140 in the House of Representatives.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States House of Representatives voted Thursday in favor of a measure protesting the International Criminal Court over the arrest warrants it issued by ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan last November against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud).

The lower chamber of Congress voted 243 to 140, with 198 Republicans joined by 45 Democrats backing the Republican-sponsored bill, to pass the measure, which will now go to the Senate.

The bill was reintroduced this week, after the House passed a similar piece of legislation last summer. However, the Senate, then featuring a Democratic majority and led by New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, did not bring the measure up for a vote before the end of the session.

Dubbed the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” the bill would impose sanctions on any non-citizen who investigates, arrests, detains, or prosecutes an American citizen or citizens of an allied country – such as Israel – which is not a party to the Rome Statute and are therefore not under the ICC’s jurisdiction.

The sanctions ICC officials face include being refused visas to the United States, the loss of existing visas, and barring of property transactions in the U.S.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune has vowed to pass the bill later this month, sending it to President-elect Donald Trump’s desk for signing shortly after his inauguration on January 20th.

However, Senate Republicans, who now hold 53-seats in the 100-member chamber, will need the acquiescence of at least 7 Democrats to ward off a potential filibuster and ensure the law’s passage.

The Coalition for Jewish Values, an alliance of over 2,500 Orthodox Jewish rabbis in the United States, lauded the House’s vote Thursday.

“The ICC’s abhorrent equivalence between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas, and Jewish leaders working to end the explicit threat of another Holocaust, can only be seen as antisemitic bigotry,” said CJV President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld.

“It negates trust in international legal institutions and undermines efforts to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East. To sanction the members of the ICC for their conduct is a moral imperative, and we commend all those working to pass this important legislation.”