Michael Hernandez
06 May 2024•Update: 07 May 2024
WASHINGTON
A dozen Republican US senators have threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) with American sanctions if the international court moves forward with arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, according to a copy of a letter published Monday.
The one-page letter, obtained by online news website Zeteo, is addressed to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan. It says any potential arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials "are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and if carried out will result in severe sanctions against you and your institution."
“Target Israel and we will target you," the 12 lawmakers wrote in the letter. "These arrest warrants would align the ICC with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its proxy. To be clear, there is no moral equivalence between Hamas's terrorism and Israel's justified response."
Signatories to the letter include Sens. Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, Katie Boyd Britt, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Budd, Kevin Cramer, Bill Hagerty, Pete Ricketts, Rick Scott, Tim Scott and Ted Cruz.
The sanctions being threatened would target the ICC's employees, associates, and would include visa sanctions for the families of ICC personnel.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen accused the Republicans of engaging in "thuggery" against the top international court.
"It is fine to express opposition to a possible judicial action, but it is absolutely wrong to interfere in a judicial matter by threatening judicial officers, their family members and their employees with retribution. This thuggery is something befitting the mafia, not U.S. senators," he said in a statement to Zeteo.
Israel and the US are not members of the ICC and do not recognize its jurisdiction. Palestine was admitted as a member of The Hague-based court in 2015.
The ICC for its part has not publicly commented on the potential warrants, but said its "independence and impartiality" are "undermined" when individuals threaten to retaliate, urging an end to intimidation of its staff.
While the White House has maintained that the court lacks jurisdiction to issue any warrants against Israeli officials, it has pushed back on threats against the court's personnel from US lawmakers.
Israel has waged a sweeping offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which killed nearly 1,200 people.
Over 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 77,60 others have been injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
Separately from the ICC probe, Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, the UN's top court.
An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
