On Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-led effort to advance a bill aimed at imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC). They argued that the proposed legislation would have far-reaching impacts on America’s business interests and its alliances around the world.
The vote ended with Republicans failing to secure the 60 votes necessary to push the bill forward, with a final count of 54 to 45. Senate Democrats had proposed a bipartisan compromise to amend the bill in a way that would protect American companies working with the ICC, as well as U.S. allies, from being inadvertently caught up in sanctions meant to target the court’s investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel.
Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania was the only Democrat who supported moving the bill ahead.
This vote marked a significant setback for the GOP’s agenda in the Senate, being one of the first defeats of this session. Just the week before, Senate Democrats had also blocked a Republican-backed bill related to “born alive” abortion.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed his support for the bill before the vote, stating, “The ICC bill is one I largely support and would like to see become law.” Schumer, who identifies as a “Shomer Yisroel,” continued, “However, as much as I oppose the ICC bias against Israel, as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic.”
Efforts by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to modify the bill’s language, which would have exempted America’s allies and U.S. businesses involved with the court from facing sanctions, were rejected by Republicans. Schumer argued that the proposed changes were minimal and amounted to a “small fix.”
“We hope, and urge our Republican colleagues to sit down with us and come up with a bill that addresses the very real problems at the ICC without adversely affecting American companies and our allies,” Schumer remarked, emphasizing the possibility for a bipartisan solution.
The proposed legislation, which had passed the House earlier this month, sought to impose sanctions on ICC officials and entities supporting the court. The sanctions were in response to the court’s investigation into Israel’s alleged war crimes, a move that has drawn significant criticism.
Last spring, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of using starvation as a weapon of war amid Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza. The court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, in connection to the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, which killed over 1,200 Israelis and resulted in 250 hostages being taken.
Opponents of the sanctions argue that they create a false equivalence between Hamas, which the U.S. and other entities have labeled a terrorist organization, and Israel’s right to self-defense.
Democrats largely opposed the Republican initiative, fearing that the bill’s sweeping language could prevent the U.S. or its allies from working with the ICC in other efforts to pursue justice for war crimes globally.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was the lead Republican sponsor of the bill. Senator Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed hope that she and Cotton could reach a compromise. “I know we share most of the same concerns he does, in drafting the bill, but I think it’s overly broad, it’s not drafted in a way that addresses the unique concerns that we have with respect to the International Criminal Court,” she said.
{Matzav.com}