The House passed a bill Tuesday to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court officials who target U.S. or Israeli citizens for investigation or prosecution.
The 247-155 vote represented bipartisan condemnation of the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announcing on May 20 an effort to secure arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes committed in Gaza.
But the vote also heightened partisan tensions in a deeply divided Congress, with Democrats accusing Republicans of squandering an opportunity for a bipartisan response to the ICC and Republicans blaming the White House for walking away from an effort to cooperate on sanctions.
Mr. Khan is also seeking arrest warrants for three top Hamas officials, but U.S. lawmakers are upset about his targeting of Israel, a democratic government, and equating Mr. Netanyahu’s actions with those of terrorists.
The arrest warrants still need to be considered by a three-judge panel, but the House bill calls for more immediate penalties designed to persuade the ICC to drop its investigation into Israel. It would impose economic and visa-related sanctions for any individual participating or aiding in the attempted prosecution of Israeli officials.
“The ICC has to be punished for this action. We cannot allow this to stand,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told reporters ahead of the vote. “We know the president doesn’t like to listen to us, but I hope that he’ll listen to at least the members of his own party who are denouncing the ICC and calling for action.”
The White House opposes sanctions as a response to the ICC, and a majority of congressional Democrats have opposed that approach as well.
Only 42 voted for the House bill on Tuesday, and several Senate Democrats told The Washington Times sanctions are not an appropriate response.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said ICC sanctions are “a very bad idea” because they could embolden actual war criminals like Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant last year.
“He would just say to the rest of the world, ’You see, the ICC is out to get me,’” the Maryland Democrat said of Mr. Putin.
The White House released a statement of administration policy saying it “strongly opposes” the House bill to sanction ICC officials, but it did not issue a veto threat.
It expressed concern the measure is written too broadly and “could require sanctions against court staff, judges, witnesses, and U.S. allies and partners who provide even limited, targeted support to the court in a range of aspects of its work.”
“There are more effective ways to defend Israel, preserve U.S. positions on the ICC, and promote international justice and accountability,” the White House said.
The statement did not detail what those alternative options are, and there does not appear to be any effort underway in Congress to pursue another legislative response despite some initial discussions in the Senate.
“It’s going to be much more challenging because of what the House is doing,” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Benjamin L. Cardin said.
Proponents of sanctioning the ICC argued the court overstepped its authority as a court of last resort and set a dangerous precedent in attempting to prosecute Israel without allowing it to address the war crimes allegations in its judicial system.
“The case against Israel is baseless,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said.
Democrats who voted for the sanctions measure agreed it was important to stand up to the ICC and in defense of Israel.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat who voted for the sanctions bill, said the ICC’s attempted prosecution of Israeli officials is “nonsense,” but that his vote does not represent a defense of Mr. Netanyahu’s leadership.
“I think Netanyahu needs to go,” Mr. Gonzalez told The Times. “I think he’s harming Israel’s public image around the world. And I think Israelis need to recognize that. And I think most of them do. American Jews I think do as well.”
Given the different views in the party, House Democratic leaders did not conduct a whip operation on the bill to urge their members to vote a specific way.
“It’s one of those bills that we have decided is a vote of conscience,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark told The Times.
The Massachusetts Democrat said she voted “no” because she believes the bill goes too far.
“It could really hurt our standing with allies in Europe and is the wrong message at this point,” Ms. Clark said, adding that Republicans took an extremist approach.
Republicans argue it was Democrats who opted not to work together on the sanctions bill.
“Initially the White House was supporting that effort and now they’ve walked away because their radical left in their own party does not any longer support the Jewish state of Israel,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, told reporters.
The ICC sanctions push comes as House and Senate leaders have invited Mr. Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress later this month. Several Democrats have said they plan to boycott the speech. Mr. Johnson said he expects all Republicans will attend and is urging Democrats to reconsider skipping it.
“I think it’s really important for everybody to come,” the speaker said. “And even if you have misgivings about it, come and listen.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.