U.S. House imposes sanctions on ICC as Washington gears up for Trump return

JERUSALEM – The United States House of Representatives recently overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill to sanction the International Criminal Court, primarily for the issuance of arrest warrants for Israel’s current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Lawmakers voted 243 to 140 in favor of the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” which would urge sanctions on any ICC official or entities backing The Hague who advance “any effort to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.”

Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Chip Roy, R-Texas led the bill, which is a top priority for Republicans. It is expected to come up for a vote in the Senate in the near future.

The sanctions include blocking or revoking visas and prohibiting U.S. property transactions.

PASSED! The U.S. House overwhelmingly adopts bill to sanction the hell out of the ICC, over its obscene and outrageous arrest warrants against Israeli leaders fighting Hamas and seeking to bring hostages home!

Thank you @RepBrianMast for your unyielding leadership on this! pic.twitter.com/1AZqkIxJjv

— Arsen Ostrovsky ️ (@Ostrov_A) January 9, 2025

Officially the ICC based in The Hague has no jurisdiction over either Israel or the United States for that matter, as neither is a signatory of the Rome Statute, which established the court. It is likely for reasons precisely such as these neither country did so. However, the waters have been significantly muddied by the court asserting jurisdiction after it accepted “the State of Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite there being no such state recognized under international law.

The bill passed easily, with 198 House Republicans voting in favor and zero against; Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the only one to not support the bill, merely voting “present.” Forty-five Democrats supported the bill; which produced very similar numbers to another one sanctioning the ICC, which was passed in the house last year.

This earlier vote failed to advance in the Senate. Although newly appointed Republican majority leader John Thume has promised swift consideration of the act so President-elect Donald Trump can sign it into law shortly after taking office, it is not at all clear whether this year’s proposed bill will have an easier time of passing than the 2024 failed version.

The U.N. agency with responsibility for all the other refugees in the world – other than the Palestinians – published an article on its website, which suggested U.N. experts – including Francesca Albanese, the disgraced special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967 [sic] – urged the U.S. Senate to oppose the bill. “It is shocking to see a country that considers itself a champion of the rule of law trying to stymie the actions of an independent and impartial tribunal set up by the international community, to thwart accountability,” the experts said.

“Threats against the ICC promote a culture of impunity. They make a mockery of the decades-long quest to place law above force and atrocity,” the experts added.

“I don’t care if you are a terrorist in a cave or a lawyer at The Hague, if you get in the way of bringing American hostages home, then you will be given no quarter and you damn well shouldn’t expect to be welcomed on American soil with open arms,” Mast, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

Roy, in a House floor speech, blasted the ICC’s “unprecedented action” and emphasized that it has no jurisdiction over U.S. or Israeli personnel, “yet is extending into the people of Israel’s business in defending their interests against violent attack by Hamas, which we define as a terrorist entity.”

The charges against the Israeli leaders allege they committed the war crimes of directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza and of using starvation as a method of warfare by hindering the supply of international aid to Gaza.

Meanwhile, chief prosecutor Karim Khan also alleged they committed the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts as a result of the restrictions they allegedly placed on the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israel has vociferously rejected the substance of the allegations, pointing to the fact millions of tons of aid has been delivered to the Strip. It has argued problems associated with distribution of that aid to the Palestinian civilian population are due to inefficiencies with the aid agencies on the ground, the ongoing conflict, as well as the widespread problem of Hamas looting and storing the aid as a way of controlling the supply.