The House will vote next week on a bill to impose sanctions on individuals connected to the International Criminal Court if they target U.S. or Israeli citizens for investigation or prosecution. 

It is a response to ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announcing on May 20 an effort to secure arrest warrants against top Israel and Hamas officials for war crimes committed in and around Gaza. 

The sanctions include revoking or blocking visas or other documentation needed to enter the U.S. and freezing U.S. property interests and transactions.

Republicans should have enough votes to pass the bill, although the number of Democrats who will support it is in question after the White House announced its opposition to sanctioning the ICC.

It is unlikely the Democrat-run Senate would take up a bill that the White House does not support.

The ICC arrest warrants are not final and still need to be considered by a three-judge panel.

The House bill — if enacted — would enforce sanctions regardless of whether the arrest warrants move forward. The only out would be for Mr. Khan to drop his investigation against Israeli officials.

The measure requires sanctions “if the International Criminal Court is engaging in any attempt to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person” to be imposed on individuals “directly engaged in or otherwise aided” by those actions.

A protected person is defined as any citizen or lawful resident of the United States or an allied country “that has not consented to International Criminal Court jurisdiction or is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” Israeli citizens would fall under that definition.

Mr. Khan, in naming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant among those he’s targeting for arrest warrants, would certainly be among the individuals subject to sanctions if the measure is enacted.

The measure also targets individuals and companies who have “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to” the ICC in its targeting of individuals protected under the bill.

The legislation gives the president authority to remove the sanctions if the ICC permanently ends its investigation into Israel.

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.