^{The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2016. Credit: U.N. Photo.}

By Andrew Bernard

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday instructing the president to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court in The Hague over its issue of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister.

The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act passed with bipartisan support as one of the first measures of the new Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) welcomed its passage. “The House of Representatives will not tolerate rogue actors, who circumvent international law in an effort to attack Israel and threaten America,” he stated. “America has returned to a position of strength and once again supports Israel without equivocation.”

The legislation passed 243-140, with 45 Democrats joining all but one Republican in voting for the measure. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a libertarian who frequently opposes bills related to foreign policy, voted present.

The bipartisan support for the bill marks an increase from its passage in June in the previous Congress when it won the support of 42 Democrats.

New “yea” votes from Democrats included Reps. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) and George Latimer (D-N.Y.), who defeated former Congress members Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman in the Democratic primaries in the last election. Bush and Bowman were members of the so-called “Squad” of left-wing progressives, who are among the most vocal critics of Israel in Congress.

Voting on the measure was held open for an extended period of time to allow members to return from the funeral of Jimmy Carter, a point noted by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) in opposing the bill on the House floor.

“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.

“Don’t worry about climate change America, because Republicans are going to sanction the janitors at the ICC,” he added.

The bill instructs the U.S. president to impose sanctions within 60 days on anyone who “has directly engaged in or otherwise aided any effort by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute” U.S. citizens or the citizens of U.S. allies not party to the ICC’s Rome Statute, including Israel.

The ICC is a stand-alone court in The Hague, which is not connected to the United Nations or the global body’s International Court of Justice.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who is leading a companion bill in the Senate, has stated that “barring a decisive response, the ICC now poses a direct threat to the sovereignty of America and our allies.”

“This bill would protect America and Israel from the ICC’s most recent abuse of power,” Cotton said.

Speaking in favor of the House bill, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), argued that the Hague court and its prosecutor Karim Khan had effectively sided with Hamas in pursuing the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant.

“It’s a dadgum sham court is what it is,” Burchett said. “These decisions by the ICC are reckless and they not only put Israel at risk, they put Americans at risk as well.”

“Hamas chose war, and, dadgum it, Hamas got war,” Burchett added. “The ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has made a parody of justice, and he needs to find his place, or we will help him find it.”

Source: JNS