The ICC’s arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant is outrageous, unlawful, and dangerous. Leader Schumer should bring a bill to the floor sanctioning the ICC. If he chooses not to act, the new Senate Republican majority next year will. pic.twitter.com/kckPXPOoLD
— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) November 21, 2024
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, the tribunal in The Hague announced on Thursday afternoon.
The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I “issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest,” it confirmed in a statement.
In a separate statement, the court ordered the arrest of Mohammed Deif, the supreme commander of Hamas’s military wing, who according to the Israel Defense Forces was killed in an airstrike on July 13.
Senator John Thune said Sunday that the US must pass legislation threatening the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it seeks arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other Israeli officials.
“If the ICC and its prosecutor do not reverse their outrageous and unlawful actions to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials, the Senate should immediately pass sanctions legislation, as the House has already done on a bipartisan basis,” Thune wrote on social media platform X.
Thune will become the majority leader of the Senate in early January when Republicans officially take over Congress. He was referring to a bill calling for sanctions on ICC officials that the House passed earlier this year.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has asked a pre-trial panel at the Hague to approve his request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas officials who have since been killed. Khan alleges that war crimes may have been committed during fighting in Gaza amid the ongoing war there with Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 onslaught.
Israel has steadfastly rejected the charges and portrayed the request as antisemitic, with some comparing it to a blood libel.
