Outrage in Congress Could Lead to First American Sanctions on the International Criminal Court

New outrage from Congress could lead to the first American sanctions being placed on the International Criminal Court as an institution after prosecutors announced they would seek the arrests of both Israeli and Hamas leaders on Monday. The prosecutor leading the case, Karim Khan, said in a speech that he was bringing war crimes charges against Prime Minister Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who leads Hamas at Gaza. Mr. Khan said the “collective punishment” of Palestinian Arabs, which entailed “malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths” warrant the court’s actions.The reaction from American leaders in Congress has been swift. Senator Graham announced Monday that he would work “feverishly” with members of both parties and both legislative chambers “to levy damning sanctions against the ICC” in the wake of the war crimes charges. “Prosecutor Khan’s team was supposed to be in Israel today to arrange a meeting for next week with the prosecutor’s office about the allegations,” the South Carolina senator says. “Instead of the ICC following through with scheduled consultations with Israel, they announced the warrants.”“Prosecutor Khan is drunk with self-importance and has done a lot of damage to the peace process and to the ability to find a way forward. Lying prosecutors never bring about just outcomes,” Mr. Graham writes in a post on social media. America has never issued sanctions against the ICC itself, though it has sanctioned court officials individually. In 2020, the Trump administration issued sanctions against prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and an ICC prosecution official, Phakiso Mochochoko. Secretary Pompeo announced at the time that he had also restricted travel and visas to other unnamed ICC officials and family members. In April 2021, President Biden rescinded those sanctions. It isn’t just Republicans who are outraged by the Monday announcement from Mr. Khan. Congressman Ritchie Torres, a liberal Democrat from the Bronx, noted in a statement that neither America nor Israel are signatories to the ICC treaty. “The decision to seek arrest warrants is not law but politics. It is not justice but rather retribution against Israel for the original sin of existing as a Jewish State and the subsequent sin of defending itself amid the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” Mr. Torres says. “Today’s decision in effect makes it criminal for a state like Israel to defend itself against an enemy shrewd enough to embed itself in a civilian population, as Hamas has done to an extent never seen before in the history of warfare.”When the potential for ICC arrest warrants was first reported in April, Speaker Johnson said in a statement that America should use “every available tool” to block the arrest of Mr. Netanyahu and any other Israeli officials. “Such a lawless action by the ICC would directly undermine U.S. national security interests. If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority,” Mr. Johnson said. “Instead of wrongly targeting Israel, the ICC should pursue charges against Iran and its terror proxies, including Hamas, for engaging in horrific war crimes.”House members are already introducing their own sanctions legislation to preempt the court from acting on the arrest warrants. On May 7, Congressman Chip Roy and Congressman Brian Mast unveiled the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, which would impose sanctions on any court official involved in prosecutions of American citizens or American allies, including Israeli officials. That legislation already has the support of the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Mike McCaul, and Senator Cotton, among others.

Outrage in Congress Could Lead to First American Sanctions on the International Criminal Court

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