The House has overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for their alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza, as the death toll from Israel’s genocide tops 46,000 people, with many more deaths likely going uncounted.
The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act passed 243 to 140, with 45 Democrats voting with nearly all Republicans to pass the legislation. It has not yet been introduced in the Senate, with Democrats and some Republicans reluctant to advance it when the Senate was under Democratic control, and it is unclear whether it could get the 60 votes it requires to pass.
If signed into law, the bill compels the president to issue sweeping sanctions on individuals and the families of individuals affiliated with the ICC who seek to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute people protected by the U.S. The bill has been described by experts as overly sweeping and extremely dangerous for the already weak fabric of international law, severely weakening the court’s ability to seek accountability for war criminals across the world.
The bill specifically calls out the ICC’s warrants for Israeli leaders, claiming that they’re “illegitimate.” As Sludge has reported, AIPAC has lobbied for its passage. The House previously passed the bill, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), but the legislation wasn’t taken up by the Senate. Forty-two Democrats voted for the legislation then.
Opponents of the bill have said that the true purpose of the bill is to shield Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from facing any consequences for his administration’s genocide in Gaza.
“Republicans want to sanction the ICC simply because they don’t want the rules to apply to everyone,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) on the House floor on Thursday.
McGovern highlighted that Republicans are moving to erode human rights while ignoring urgent issues within the U.S.
“We have a natural disaster unfolding in California right this second…. We have a gun violence epidemic, as we see massacres in our schools nearly every single day. And families are unable to make ends meet because they’re being ripped off by billionaire corporations,” said McGovern. “All those challenges, and this is what the out of touch elitist billionaire Republican party wants to waste time on. Sanctioning the ICC.”
Indeed, the bill is the second considered by the newly sworn in House, making it one of Republicans’ top priorities for the new session.
“What’s their top priority the first week of the new Congress? Lowering costs? Addressing the housing crisis? No, it’s sanctioning the International Criminal Court to protect genocidal maniac Netanyahu so he can continue the genocide in Gaza,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan).
McGovern added that there had been negotiations to change the legislation to make it weaker in its attacks against the ICC, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) had overridden the debate to pass the “most extreme version” of the bill. Republicans also rushed the bill to the floor, naming it as 1 of 12 bills for which points of order were waived as part of the new House rules package.
Like many human rights and civil society groups have warned, McGovern also said that the sanctions will even further isolate the U.S. on the international stage.
“Where is our humanity? Have we just given up on the idea of human rights? At least 45,000 people have been killed in the war in Gaza, and I fear that number is much higher,” he said.
“People are dying. Children are dying. Babies are dying. Some of them from the bombs, some from starvation, some from the cold.”
“For us in Congress to get involved in sanctioning the ICC because we don’t like the fact that they are pointing out some of the serious issues in Gaza, committed by one of our closest allies — for us to sanction them because of that undermines the court, undermines our credibility in the world, undermines our credibility on human rights,” said McGovern.
Senate Republicans have openly threatened to go after ICC officials who have pursued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. In May, a group of 12 senators signed a letter saying, “Target Israel and we will target you.” The letter, for which the lead signer was Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), concluded, “You have been warned.”
This week, a group of 114 civil society, advocacy and rights groups signed a letter urging Congress not to pass the bill, emphasizing the danger of the U.S. undermining the infrastructure of international human rights enforcement.
“By applying these measures to a court that 125 countries – and on two occasions, the United Nations Security Council — have entrusted with providing accountability for atrocity crimes, the United States has brought upon itself the stigma of siding with impunity over justice,” the letter says. “[S]anctions send a signal that could embolden authoritarian regimes and others with reason to fear accountability who seek to evade justice.”
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