House votes to impose sanctions on ICC
WASHINGTON — The House voted mostly along party lines Tuesday to impose sanctions on officials at the International Criminal Court in a rebuke of efforts by the court’s top prosecutor to charge top Israeli leaders with war crimes in connection with the offensive against Hamas.
The bill would compel President Joe Biden to restrict entry into the United States, revoke visas and impose financial restrictions on anyone at the court involved in trying to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute “protected persons,” or U.S. allies. It would also target anyone who provides “financial, material or technological support” to those efforts.
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Biden’s advisers said he was “strongly opposed” to the measure because it would impose sanctions on such a broad swath of officials, including court staff members and any witnesses involved in a potential case. But it reflected broad bipartisan anger in Washington after the court’s top prosecutor announced late last month that he would seek charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders.
The GOP-written bill passed by a vote of 247-155, with two Republicans voting present and 42 Democrats crossing party lines in support.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, the author of the bill, said it was a necessary step to stop the international court from acting beyond its jurisdiction and to address fears that actions taken against Israeli officials could be a prelude to actions against American officials. “What happens here is going to be coming at us and our country,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to speak with one voice, with authority, with force.”
Since Karim Khan, the ICC’s top prosecutor, went public with his request to the court’s judges to seek the charges, the move has met broad condemnation in Washington. Members of both parties have argued that it overstepped the court’s jurisdiction and inappropriately likened the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, a close U.S. ally, with those of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terror group, accusing both of crimes against humanity.
“The ICC prosecutor has attempted to equate the self-defense decisions made by Israel’s democratically elected leaders to those of Hamas terrorist leaders,” said Rep. Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. “There is no — and I repeat — there is no moral or legal equivalence here.”
But despite the bipartisan displeasure with the court’s prosecutor, Meeks opposed the bill, and pressed for a bipartisan measure that would reflect the broad repudiation of the court’s move but not resort to sanctions.
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