By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court in protest of its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

The vote was 243 to 140 in favor of the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” which would punish any alien who investigates, arrests, detains or prosecutes citizens of the US or allied countries, including Israel, which is not a member of the court.

Forty-five Democrats joined 198 Republicans in supporting the bill. No Republican voted against it.

“America passed this law because a kangaroo court wanted to arrest the prime minister of our great ally, Israel,” Representative Brian Mast, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a House speech before the vote. .

The House vote, one of the first since the new Congress took office last week, underscored the strong support of President-elect Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans for the Israeli government, now controlled by them. both houses of Congress.

The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The first Trump administration imposed sanctions at the ICC in 2020 in response to investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, including allegations of torture of US citizens.

Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden’s administration, although Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in May last year that he was willing to work with Congress to potentially impose new sanctions at the ICC at the request of prosecutors for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

Five years ago, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and other staff had their credit cards and bank accounts frozen and travel to the US blocked.

The new sanctions passed by the US House also make it possible to target individuals who assist in the court’s work.

SANCTIONS COULD ‘JEOPARDIZE’ THE ICC, SAYS ITS PRESIDENT

In December, the court’s President, Judge Tomoko Akane, told the ICC’s 125 member countries that “these measures will rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases and endanger its existence this”.

Trump will be sworn in on January 20 for a second term as president.

The newly appointed Republican majority leader of the Senate, John Thune, has promised to quickly consider the sanctions action in his chamber so that Trump can sign it into law shortly after taking office.

The ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against member states or their nationals.

The court said its decision to maintain the warrants against the Israeli officials was consistent with its approach in all cases, based on a prosecutor’s assessment that there was sufficient evidence to proceed, and the view that the quick search of arrest warrants can prevent ongoing crimes. .

Republicans in Congress have criticized the ICC since it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense chief, Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 15 months of conflict in Gaza. Israel denies the allegations.

The Republican-led House passed legislation seeking to authorize the ICC in June, but the move never made it to the Senate, which at the time was controlled by a Democratic majority.