Incoming Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune threatened United States sanctions against the International Criminal Court should it issue arrest warrants on war crimes charges against top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“If the ICC and its prosecutor do not reverse their outrageous and unlawful actions to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials, the Senate should immediately pass sanctions legislation, as the House has already done on a bipartisan basis,” he wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
The senator from South Dakota urged Senator Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer (NY), to act on the issue now.
“If Majority Leader Schumer does not act, the Senate Republican majority will stand with our key ally Israel and make this – and other supportive legislation – a top priority in the next Congress,” Thune said.
Other Republican senators immediately echoed his words.
“The ICC must abandon its unlawful pursuit of arrest warrants against Israeli officials. If it fails to do so, the Senate should immediately consider the bi-partisan legislation passed by the House to sanction the ICC,” Senator Susan Collins of Maine wrote on X.
The “US stands with Israel,” she stressed.
House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson (LA-4) recalled that already in June, his House of Representatives had voted on legislation to sanction the ICC should it issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the Gaza war but that Schumer had refused to bring it to the Senate for a vote.
A longstanding issue
A bill must receive approval from both the House and the Senate before it can be passed into law.
Johnson wrote on X, “The House voted in June to sanction the ICC if they proceed with their illegitimate plot, but Chuck Schumer has refused to bring the bill to the Senate.
“Grateful to see the resolve of @SenJohnThune for both our chambers to stand TOGETHER with Israel in the new Congress.”
Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina called on the Senate to pass the legislation already now.
“The Senate must pass our bill to protect Americans and our allies from wrongful targeting by the ICC. Standing up for our great ally Israel shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” he wrote.
During his first term in office, president-elect Donald Trump in June 2020 had issued sanctions against ICC officials over the court’s actions with regard to Israel and possible war crimes suits against the Jewish state. US President Joe Biden lifted those sanctions in April 2021.
The House passed legislation in June to restore the sanctions after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced in May that he had asked his court’s pre-trial chamber to issue sanctions against Israeli leaders. The pre-trial chamber has yet to rule on the matter.
The House vote on ICC sanctions was 247 to 155, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans in backing the measure. There were no Republican “nay” votes, although two voted “present.”
The bill automatically moved to the Senate, but Schumer has yet to bring it forward for a vote. Republicans have renewed their pressure on Schumer to pass the legislation, fearing that Trump’s pending entry to the White House could prompt the ICC to act now on the issue of Israeli arrest warrants.
Reuters contributed to this report.