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Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, plans to introduce legislation this week to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it issued an arrest warrant earlier this week against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. year
A GOP congressional aide said that Illegal judicial contravention law could get a vote in the House as early as Thursday.
The aide said the bill has support “spanning the entire GOP conference” and was also bipartisan, with a similar measure garnering support from about 40 Democrats last year. Last year’s bill failed to pass Congress because then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) failed to pass it.
“With a new Congress, we’re raising this early to send a strong message that the America Last foreign policy of the Biden era is over,” the congressional aide said. “This is just an opening act.”
The Hill reached out to the office of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for comment on whether the bill would move this week and to the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (RSD) if the Senate plans to take up the legislation. .
The bill, which will take effect 60 days after its enactment, would punish anyone who works to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute US citizens or an official of a US-allied country, including Israel.
The legislation covers the Western security alliance of 32 NATO members and 19 major non-NATO countries, which includes Israel, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines and Egypt.
It would also revoke funds the US has designated for the ICC and ban any future money for the court.
Mast said in a statement that the legislation “sends a clear message to the International Criminal Court.”
“We may not recognize you, but you certainly recognize what happens when you target the United States or its allies,” Mast said. “The ICC’s attempt to obstruct Israel’s right to defend itself has only prolonged the war and prevented the release of the American hostages by boosting Hamas’ morale.”
The bill was introduced by Mast and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), and has 17 other Republican co-sponsors.
Roy said the ICC “is an illegitimate body that has no business interfering with our sovereignty or that of our allies.”
“He is now engaged in a shameful legal campaign against Prime Minister Netanyahu for fulfilling his duty to protect his fellow citizens from Hamas in the wake of the barbaric attacks on October 7,” Roy said in a statement.
Roy said the bill was not only about Israel but also about protecting US troops from “political attacks” by the ICC as President-elect Trump prepares to take office on January 20.
“While I have every confidence that President Trump will represent Israel with the strength and moral clarity that Biden has sorely lacked, this bill will ensure that no future administration after him can give the ICC a free pass to attack our allies like this,” he added.
Republicans will hold the House, Senate and White House at the end of the month.
Still, many Democrats are likely to oppose the move, particularly more progressive lawmakers who have expressed concern about Israel’s devastating war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, where more than 46,000 people are . The war began when Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, about 100 of whom are still in Gaza.
The ICC, an independent court formed in 2002, issued arrest warrants in November after prosecutors sought the warrants last spring. The warrants are for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, a key Hamas commander whom Israel claims to have killed.
Both the United States and Israel do not recognize the ICC, but the state of Palestine does, which the court says gives it jurisdiction. The Biden administration, Republicans and many Democrats have argued that the ICC lacks jurisdiction.
Still, Washington has generally supported the ICC’s arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin related to the deportation of children for the Ukraine war.
The arrest warrants complicate travel for Netanyahu, who cannot go to an ICC member country without risking arrest.
