Republicans are vowing retribution after the International Criminal Court said it would seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan filed applications for warrants against Netanyahu, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the commander of Hamasâ military wing, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Republicans on key foreign policy panels blasted the decision and warned that they would make good on threats from earlier this month to punish the international tribunal, of which neither the United States nor Israel are members, if it went after Israeli officials.
âIsrael is fighting a just war for survival, and the ICC is attempting to equate Israeli officials to the evil terrorists who perpetrated the October 7th massacre,â Speaker Mike Johnson said in a Monday statement, adding: âIn the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed.â
Across the Capitol, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) vowed to âfeverishly work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both chambers to levy damning sanctions against the ICC.â
In a statement, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that âKhanâs kangaroo court has no jurisdiction in Israel to pursue these anti-Semitic and politically motivated âcharges,ââ adding that he looks âforward to making sure neither Khan, his associates nor their families will ever set foot again in the United States.â
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee blasted the action as âabsurdâ â saying in a statement the decision to simultaneously pursue arrest warrants against Hamas leadership and Israeli officials creates a âfalse moral equivalencyâ between the two groupsâ actions.
House Republicans have introduced a number of measures taking action against the ICC, though Speaker Mike Johnsonâs office did not immediately comment on whether the chamber would take any of them up.
The outrage was not isolated to Republicans. In a statement, President Joe Biden called the announcement âoutrageousâ and added that the move âdoes nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in.â
âWe will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,â Biden continued.
The White House has voiced its opposition to the ICCâs investigation into Israel, as Israel isnât a member of the court. Earlier this month, the State Department also issued a report which didnât find that Israel had violated international humanitarian law during its war in Gaza.
Democratic lawmakers representing large Jewish American communities also slammed the decision. In a post on X, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) slammed the warrants as ânot justice but rather retribution against Israel for the original sin of existing as a Jewish State and the subsequent sin of defending itself amid the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.â
A number of progressives, however, celebrated the move. âIf Netanyahu comes to address Congress, I would be more than glad to show the ICC the way to the House floor to issue that warrant. Ditto for Hamas leader,â Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a past head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, posted on X. A handful of progressive Democrats have previously indicated support for an arrest warrant.
An arrest warrant could be âhighly problematic for the Biden administration, as it effectively puts not only Netanyahu, but also Gallant â who the Biden team has viewed as a potential moderate alternative to Netanyahu â in the same category as Vladimir Putin,â said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute think tank.
In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Kremlin leader over the forced transfer of children to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, limiting Putinâs international travels. And Johnson has said he plans to invite Netanyahu to address Congress, raising the question of whether the Biden administration would defy the ICC during such a visit.
But the arrest warrants over the Israel-Gaza conflict havenât been issued yet, so thereâs a chance the Biden administration wonât have to deal with the issue during the war. Negotiators have been trying for months to secure a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, though talks have recently stalled.
After Khanâs filing, ICC judges will determine whether the evidence he provided is enough to formally issue the warrants. That process can take several months.
Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.
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