A majority of House Democrats voted Thursday against legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s leadership over the country’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
The bill, known as the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, is sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy and 29 other GOP lawmakers. The legislation is headed to the Senate after passing the House Thursday 243-140 with 50 lawmakers not voting.
“I am pleased the House passed, my bill H.R. 23 “The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” to hold the ICC accountable for targeting Israel and ensure they will face consequences for going after American servicemembers or our allies,” Roy told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Make no mistake, if the ICC is allowed to target Israel unchecked, they will go after American service members and veterans — like the thousands who live in TX-21 — again in the future.”
“I look forward to the Senate taking up and passing HR 23 quickly and sending to the President’s desk,” Roy added.
If the bill clears the Senate’s 60-vote threshold and President-elect Donald Trump signs the legislation into law, Trump would be required to impose sanction on the ICC for any efforts by the Netherlands–based court to issue arrest warrants for “any protected person of the United States and its allies,” according to the bill text.
Just 45 House Democrats voted to pass the legislation and 30 Democratic lawmakers did not vote. Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Congress’s lone Palestinian-American lawmaker who has frequently called Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and been censured by her colleagues for making statements accused of being antisemitic, unsurprisingly voted no on the bill.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) January 9, 2025
Every Republican lawmaker that voted either supported the bill or voted “present.” Roy and Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee, led Republicans in making the case for the bill’s passage.
“It [The ICC] has taken unprecedented action of issuing arrest warrants for the sitting prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and former minister defense [Yoav Gallant] of our friend and ally Israel,” Roy said during floor debate on the bill. “This is an entity — the ICC — that has no jurisdiction over the people of the United States. It should have no authority over our people, no authority over the prime minister of Israel. Yet it is extending into the people of Israel’s business in defending itself against violent attacks by Hamas which we define as a terrorist entity, has killed American citizens and holds American citizens hostage as we sit here today.”
The ICC has NO business trying to target Americans or our allies like Israel.
We need to send this illegitimate kangaroo court a message and SANCTION them.
More on HR 23: pic.twitter.com/KNnWPNi7no
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) January 9, 2025
“They [the ICC] are targeting America’s allies who are right now on the front lines of fighting to bring American hostages home from Gaza,” Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee, said during floor debate. “Israel is the tip of the spear in bringing the fight to an enemy who currently holds and has killed our fellow Americans.”
Roy’s bill passed the House 247-155 in June 2024 but died in the Senate under Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s leadership, forcing the Texas Congressman to reintroduce the bill on Monday.
Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, ranking member of the House Rules Committee, led Democratic lawmakers in opposition to the bill.
“This is not what America voted for. This Republican majority is not what people asked for in the last election,” McGovern said during floor debate. “They keep bringing up lousy bills like this one.”
The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC and do not recognize the court’s authority or honor its arrest warrants.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant last November after determining that both men violated international law while overseeing Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza that has been ongoing since the terrorist group invaded Israel in October 2023, killing over 1,300 Israelis.
President Biden notably called the ICC’s arrest warrants “outrageous” following the court’s decision.
“Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” Biden said in a statement.
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