JAKARTA - The United States (US) House of Representatives has decided to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in protest over an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister for Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The voting results show 243 votes against 140 votes in favor of "Unauthorized Court Management Act," which will impose sanctions on foreigners investigating, arresting, detaining, or adjudicating US citizens or allied citizens, including Israel, who are not members of the court.
A total of 45 Democratic Party members joined 198 Republicans in supporting the bill. No Republicans are against it.
"America passed this law because the panel of attorneys is trying to arrest the prime minister of our great ally, Israel," said Representative Brian Mast, chairman of the Republican House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
The vote in the House of Representatives affirms strong support among members of the Republican Party President-elect Donald Trump for the Israeli government, as they now control the two assembly in Congress.
Trump's first administration imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020 in response to an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan, including allegations of torture by US citizens.
The sanction was lifted by President Joe Biden's administration.
At the time, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said in May 2024, his party was willing to cooperate with Congress to possibly impose new sanctions on the ICC at the prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders.
Five years ago, the ICC prosecutor at the time, Fatou Bensouda, and other staff froze credit cards and bank accounts and hampered travel to the US.
New sanctions passed by the US House of Representatives also allow targeting individuals assisting with court work.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
