Democrats in the US Senate have blocked a bill that would impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, including Benjamin Netanyahu.
Republican lawmakers needed 60 votes to break a Democratic filibuster and proceed, but the motion failed 54-45.
Sen John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democrat to cross the aisle and vote in favour of the proposal.
The Illegitimate Court Counteraction (ICC) Act came to the Senate after the House of Representatives passed it earlier this month by a margin of 243-140, with 45 Democrats voting in favor.
The bill instructs President Trump to impose sanctions within 60 days on anyone who “has directly engaged in or otherwise aided any effort by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute” US citizens or the citizens of US allies not party to the ICC’s Rome Statute –which would include Israel.
In November the ICC, a stand-alone court which is not part of the UN, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The warrants accused the pair of involvement in “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” linked to the Gaza War.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said ahead of the vote on Tuesday that he supports imposing sanctions on the court but that the bill’s provisions were too broad to support.
“The ICC bill is one I largely support and would like to see become law,” Schumer said. “However, as much as I oppose the ICC’s deep bias against Israel, and as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic.”
In the floor debate on the bill, Republicans and Democrats disagreed on how wide a net ought to be cast in applying sanctions to ICC employees and contractors, with concerns raised about sanctioning staff who are citizens of America’s allies.
But Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) said this was a move worth making to make the bill work, adding: “Yes, if you are involved in illegitimately targeting Americans, you could face sanctions.
“This bill does not, once again, sanction foreign nations like the United Kingdom, but if British nationals at the court are targeting American citizens, you better believe they could face sanctions.”
Following the motion’s failure, Fetterman wrote that he was “deeply disappointed” about the outcome of the vote.
“My vote follows Israel, not the ICC that equivocated the democratically elected leader of our special ally to the terrorists and rapists of Hamas,” Fetterman said.
