Wednesday, January 15, 2025 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to sanction the International Criminal Court in protest at its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister over Israel's campaign in Gaza.
The vote was 243 to 140 in favour of the "Illegitimate
Court Counteraction Act," which would sanction any foreigner who
investigates, arrests, detains or prosecutes U.S. citizens or those of an
allied country, including Israel, who are not members of the court.
Forty-five Democrats joined 198 Republicans in backing the
bill. No Republican voted against it.
“America is passing this law
because a kangaroo court is seeking to arrest the prime minister of our great
ally, Israel,” Representative Brian Mast, Republican chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a House speech before the vote.
The House vote, one of the first since the new Congress was
seated last week, underscored strong support among President-elect Donald
Trump's fellow Republicans for Israel's government, now that they control both
chambers in Congress.
The ICC said it noted the bill with concern and warned it
could rob victims of atrocities of justice and hope.
"The court firmly
condemns any and all actions intended to threaten the court and its officials,
undermine its judicial independence and its mandate and deprive millions of
victims of international atrocities across the world of justice and hope,"
it said in a statement sent to Reuters.
Trump's first administration imposed sanctions on the ICC in
2020 in response to investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, including
allegations of torture by U.S. citizens.
Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden's
administration, though Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in May last year
that it was willing to work with Congress to potentially impose new sanctions
on the ICC over the prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for Israeli
leaders.
Five years ago, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and other
staff had credit cards and bank accounts frozen and U.S. travel impeded.
In Decmber the court's president, judge Tomoko Akane, told
the ICC's 125 member nations that "these measures would rapidly undermine
the Court's operations in all situations and cases and jeopardize its very
existence".
The ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals
for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression
in member states or by their nationals.
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