Republicans advance sanctions on International Criminal Court

House Republicans on Monday advanced legislation aimed at punishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its top prosecutor recommended war crimes charges against Israeli leaders amid their fight with Hamas.

The House Rules Committee voted 9-3, along strict party lines, to send legislation imposing sanctions on ICC officials to the floor. The full House is prepared to approve the bill later this week and send it to the Senate, where it is expected to be ignored by Democratic leaders who control the upper chamber.

The effort was initially designed to be bipartisan, as congressional leaders from both parties sought to demonstrate Washington’s support for Israel in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has been in talks with his Democratic counterparts in both chambers and the White House about how to penalize the court, stressing that he wanted legislation that had a high chance of becoming law would serve as a deterrent while ICC judges weigh whether to grant the warrants.

The White House, however, threw a wrench into these plans last week: Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that the administration, while it favors some punitive response to the ICC’s proposed charges, is not in favor of sanctioning the global court – an announcement that quickly deflated McCaul’s effort to enact a bipartisan penalty.

“We fundamentally reject the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders,” Jean-Pierre said. “However, we do not believe that ICC sanctions are an effective or appropriate path forward.”

The administration doubled down on this position in a administrative policy statement Monday afternoon, writing that he “strongly opposes” the legislation. However, he stopped short of explicitly threatening to veto the measure if it reached President Biden’s desk.

“There are more effective ways to defend Israel, preserve U.S. positions at the ICC, and promote international justice and accountability, and the Administration stands ready to work with Congress on these options,” the statement reads.

It is unclear, however, what other punitive options the White House has in mind, given that the United States has never ratified the ICC charter, does not believe Americans are subject to its jurisdiction, and does not provide funding for its operations.

House GOP leaders are not waiting for the administration to come up with alternatives, instead moving forward with a partisan sanctions bill that was introduced last month by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) following reports that the ICC was considering a move to bring charges against Israeli leaders for their conduct in the Hamas war.

Roy’s bill — which has more than 60 GOP co-sponsors — would impose sanctions on ICC officials who “engage in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.” . These sanctions include blocking U.S. real estate transactions, deeming individuals inadmissible to the U.S., and revoking any visas they may have.

The measure gives the president unilateral authority to end sanctions if the ICC ceases to engage in efforts to investigate or arrest individuals from the United States or its allies, or if the court has permanently closed any investigation into protected individuals.

The legislation is expected to pass easily in the House, with support from virtually all Republicans, as well as several pro-Israel advocates on the Democratic side. But Biden’s rejection of the sanctions concept ensured opposition from Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, and most Democrats are expected to vote against the measure when it reaches the floor later in the week.

“This is a bad bill,” Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said Monday. “The International Criminal Court is an important institution and those who care about human rights would certainly agree with this assessment. And I think it’s not in America’s moral or strategic interest to attack the court for trying to do its job.”

“This bill makes a mockery of the rules-based international order that the United States helped build,” he added.