ZOA Continues to Urge Bipartisan Senate Passage of a Strong ICC Sanctions Bill

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Government Relations Director Dan Pollak released the following statement:

The ZOA is disappointed that every Democratic Senator [the exception of Senator and ZOA honoree John Fetterman (PA); [Jon Ossof (GA) didn’t vote] voted [on a procedural vote] to block the current strong, much needed pro-Israel, pro-American International Criminal Court (ICC) sanctions bill that was supported by every Republican Senator, which was passed by the House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis on January 9, 2025. The House bill, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX), H.R.23, is entitled “The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” and codifies sanctions against ICC officials who are illegitimately attempting to “investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.”

The ICC has no legitimate jurisdiction over the U.S. or Israel for multiple reasons. First, the U.S. and Israel did not sign and ratify the Rome statute which created the ICC, and are thus not subject to its jurisdiction. Second, under the Rome statute, ICC jurisdiction is limited to nations that are “unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out the investigation or prosecution.” Israel and the U.S. both have robust legal systems that carry out their own investigations and prosecutions. Third, the ICC’s claim that a “State of Palestine” accepted the Court’s jurisdiction and therefore the ICC has authority to prosecute Israel for war crimes in Gaza is erroneous, because there is no “State of Palestine.”

Yet, in violation of the most basic legal principle – which forbids a court from acting against parties over which the court has no jurisdiction, the ICC continues to lawlessly prosecute and issue arrest warrants over parties outside its jurisdiction. Basically, the ICC is a dangerous, lawless “kangaroo court.”

The ICC’s unlawful investigations and arrest warrants can subject U.S. and Israeli citizens to arrest in numerous countries, without the basic protections provided by U.S. law.

On March 5, 2020, the ICC Appeals Chamber authorized a still-open investigation of alleged war crimes since 2003 in Afghanistan, including war crimes allegations against U.S. personnel – despite the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the U.S.

And, on November 21, 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant – despite the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over Israel. The ICC classified the warrants as “secret” and disclosed no “witnesses” – thus denying Israeli officials with the basic civil right of confronting their accusers. Further, the ICC based its arrest warrants on the ICC’s alleged “reasonable belief,” rather than on evidence; and used the wrong legal standard (international humanitarian law) instead of the applicable standard (laws of war). The ICC’s lawless arrest warrants against Israeli leaders raise the risk that the ICC will be emboldened to issue arrest warrants against U.S. soldiers or political officials.

Strong law is needed: During President Trump’s first term in office, Trump issued Executive Order 13928 (June 11, 2020), which sanctioned and blocked entry into the United States of ICC officials. Unfortunately, shortly after becoming president, Biden issued Executive Order 14022 (April 1, 2021), revoking and terminating the sanctions on the ICC. President Trump’s Day One Executive Orders revoked Biden’s revocation of Trump’s sanctions order.

ZOA has been urging the Senate to pass the strong, effective House bill, to avoid the possibility that a future administration will again revoke Trump’s sanctions executive order. Passing a law will end “executive order ping-pong.” (See “ZOA Congratulates Pres. Trump on his Inauguration and Strongly Praises Pres. Trump’s Day One Pro-Israel, Pro-Jewish Executive Orders,” Jan. 22, 2025.)

Unfortunately, the Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) are reportedly attempting to water down the ICC sanctions bill passed in the House, to exempt allied countries and tech companies from sanctions. If Sen. Shaheen’s amendments are inserted into the bill, then, for instance, it seems that no sanctions would be placed on a country that arrests U.S. or Israeli soldiers or officials on an illegitimate ICC arrest warrant. Sen. Shaheen’s amendment would thus make the sanctions bill largely ineffective to stop the ICC’s illegitimate actions.

ZOA is still hopeful however that an acceptable solution can be found. ZOA’s Government Relations office is speaking with Democratic Senators, in the hopes to find bipartisan Senate support for a strong ICC sanctions bill.