The Home of Representatives green-lit a invoice Thursday that may slap sanctions in opposition to foreigners who try to implement the Worldwide Felony Court docket’s arrest warrant in opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Illegitimate Court docket Counteraction (ICC) Act was permitted 243-140, with 45 Democrats becoming a member of 198 Republicans to again the measure.
All 140 “nay” votes got here from Democrats, together with “Squad” members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), additionally voted in opposition to the invoice.
The act would compel the president to implement punishments — together with the revocation of visas — in opposition to ICC officers pursuing Netanyahu, 75, and former Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant, 66, over the conduct of Israel’s battle in opposition to Hamas.
“The ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants against the leadership of Israel represents the weaponization of international law at its most egregious,” South Bronx Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres defined earlier than voting for the invoice.
“The ICC has set a precedent for criminalizing self-defense: any country daring to defend itself against an enemy that exploits civilians as human shields will face persecution posing as prosecution.”
Different native Democrats who supported the invoice included Manhattan and Brooklyn Rep. Dan Goldman, Queens Rep. Grace Meng, and Lengthy Island Reps. Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who mentioned he doesn’t need the US to “get involved in disputes between other countries” and has opposed GOP-backed pro-Israel laws up to now, was the one lawmaker “present.”
Along with sanctioning ICC officers who goal People, US entities and allies like Israel that haven’t consented to international jurisdiction, the invoice would additionally claw again any taxpayer funding of the worldwide court docket.
Final 12 months, an identical measure handed the Home in a 247-155 vote, with 42 Democrats on board, however was not picked up by the Democrat-controlled Senate.
That invoice was proposed in response to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan saying his intent to pursue the arrest warrants in opposition to Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged “war crimes” within the Gaza Strip.
In November, the ICC has issued these arrest warrants, alleging that there have been “reasonable grounds” to consider the 2 males “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”.
Neither the US nor Israel acknowledge the ICC, having opted to not ratify the 1998 Rome Statute that created the tribunal.
Thursday’s vote passed off through the state funeral of late former President Jimmy Carter on the Nationwide Cathedral, roughly a half-hour drive from the Capitol.
Carter, who died Dec. 29 on the age of 100, helped normalize relations between Egypt and Israel with the 1978 Camp David accords.
The thirty ninth president was additionally a fierce critic of Israel at occasions, accusing the Jewish state of finishing up apartheid in opposition to Palestinians within the West Financial institution and suggesting the scenario was worse than South Africa’s longstanding coverage of white-only rule.
Home International Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) mentioned the invoice despatched “a clear message to the International Criminal Court.”
“We may not recognize you, but you sure as hell will recognize what happens when you target America or its allies,” Mast mentioned on the Home flooring forward of the vote.
“The ICC’s attempt to obstruct Israel’s right to defend itself has only prolonged the war and prevented the release of American hostages by boosting Hamas’ morale.”
