Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved the outrageous request of its Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, to issue arrest warrants to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, over Israel’s response to Hamas’ dastardly terrorist attack on October 7th, 2023.
Following the prosecutor’s initial request in May 2024, legislation seeking to sanction the ICC was introduced. In June, the House of Representatives passed the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act with a bipartisan majority. However, despite strong support for such legislation in the Senate, both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-MD) have refused to bring the bill to a vote either on the floor of the Senate or in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Meanwhile, multiple resolutions by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seeking to impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state have been brought to consideration on the Senate floor.
This move by the ICC has clear and direct implications for US national security. As neither the United States nor Israel are parties to the Rome Statute which grants the ICC its authority, the court does not have jurisdiction over American and Israeli nationals. Should countries now recognize the court’s jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, this would set a legal precedent and allow the ICC to pursue investigations, arrests and criminal trials against not only Israel who is in an existential fight for its life, but US service members and veterans, putting their freedom and wellbeing at risk.
Unfortunately, ICC sanctions is not the only important bill affecting Israel and the Jewish community that has been held up by Senator Schumer. Since April, Senator Schumer has refused to hold a vote on the strongly bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act that seeks to require the Department of Education to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition when assessing antisemitic violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. At a time when Jewish students have faced record amounts of antisemitism, holding up this bill is inexplicable.
We call on our subscribers to write and call the offices of Senators Schumer and Cardin and tell them to stop holding up these essential bills! If you’re not from New York or Maryland, please contact your own Senator at (202) 224-3121 and tell them that sanctions must be imposed on the ICC for its perversion of international law.
