The US House of Representatives voted to sanction International Criminal Court personnel involved in efforts to prosecute citizens of the United States or allied countries that have not joined the court. The measure passed 243-140-1 on January 9, 2025, with 45 Democrats supporting the Republican-backed bill.
The legislation, titled the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, responded to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. The court issued the warrants in November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC.
The bill would require visa restrictions and the blocking of property belonging to foreign people who participated in or materially assisted an ICC investigation, detention, arrest or prosecution of a protected person from the United States or an allied non-member state. Immediate family members of sanctioned individuals would also face visa restrictions. If enacted, the provisions were set to take effect within 60 days.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Brian Mast argued that the court was improperly pursuing the leader of an ally responding to the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. House Speaker Mike Johnson also made the bill an early priority for the new Congress.
The ICC’s pre-trial chamber said it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore responsibility for starvation as a method of warfare and for crimes against humanity including murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. It alleged that civilians in Gaza had been deliberately deprived of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity. The warrants were accusations, not convictions, and a trial could not proceed in the defendants’ absence.
The court has no police force of its own. Its 124 member states are generally obliged to execute its warrants, although enforcement depends on national authorities. The United States and Israel rejected the court’s action. The Biden administration condemned the warrants when they were issued.
The House vote did not by itself make the sanctions law. The bill still required Senate approval, where procedural rules meant it could need 60 votes to advance. Senate Republican leader John Thune said he was prepared to bring it to the floor, but it was unclear whether supporters had enough votes. If both chambers approved the same text, it was expected to reach incoming President Donald Trump.
The debate placed two competing principles in direct conflict: congressional efforts to protect US personnel and allies from a court they do not recognise, and the ICC’s claim to jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in the Palestinian territories.
