The Senate on Tuesday failed to advance a House-passed bill to sanction International Criminal Court officials for the court’s arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over military actions in the Gaza Strip.
The measure, dubbed the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, failed to muster the needed 60 votes to clear a Democratic filibuster. The vote was 54-45. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a staunch defender of Israel in its war against Hamas, was the lone Democrat to vote in favor with all Republicans.
“This illegitimate targeting should concern all of us,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said. “While the ICC is targeting Israeli leaders today, it could easily set its sights on Americans — and American soldiers in particular — tomorrow.”
The wall of opposition from Democrats came in response to accusations that Republicans refused to amend the legislation to prevent American tech companies who work with the ICC from being swept up in potential sanctions. Democrats also cited objections over a provision that would allow President Donald Trump to use the legislation to sanction foreign leaders who are U.S. allies.
The measure would sanction foreign individuals involved in ICC efforts to “investigate, arrest, or prosecute U.S. citizens or citizens of U.S. allies that are not party to the ICC.”
It cleared the GOP-led House earlier this month 243-140, with 45 Democrats. But absent changes in the Senate, it appears the Republican majority will be unable to advance the bill in its current state.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., cited additional concerns about sanctioning the Netherlands-based ICC because of its work investigating alleged genocide and war crimes by adversaries such as Russia.
“It was not that we didn’t want to make sure that we did everything we could to stop their anti-Semitic actions against Israel but because we cared about Ukraine, we cared about Darfur, we cared about many other bad things that [Russia] was doing,” Schumer said.
