April 30, 2024 (EIRNS)—Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has legislation being worked on to sanction officials of the International Criminal Court, should they issue warrants against Israeli officials, according to Axios. McCaul evidently hoped that his comments to Axios would be sufficient to force the ICC to back down, as he added: “We hope it doesn’t come to that.”
There have been various reports of the heightened concern of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and also of much behind-the-scenes activity to stop the ICC from proceeding against Netanyahu and his team. The Axios report of McCaul’s actions is a rare reference to a specific action.
Otherwise, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement, with a strong condemnation of the ICC: “It is disgraceful that the International Criminal Court is reportedly planning to issue baseless and illegitimate arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. Such a lawless action by the ICC would directly undermine U.S. national security interests. If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.”
