‘Target Israel and we'll target you’: US senators’ letter to ICC over seeking Netanyahu’s arrest

Twelve US Republican senators on April 24 sent a letter to Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court (ICC), warning that the institution would face "severe sanctions" if it issues arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.

They said that the issuing of an arrest warrant against the Israeli leadership would be interpreted as "a threat to Israel's sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States. Our country demonstrated in the American Service-Members' Protection Act the lengths to which we will go to protect that sovereignty."

Calling such actions illegitimate and lacking legal basis, the senators wrote that Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza were part of "legitimate actions of self-defense against their Iranian-backed aggressors. In fact, in your own words, you witnessed "scenes of calculated cruelty" conducted by Hamas in Israel following the October 7 attacks. These arrest warrants would align the ICC with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its proxy. To be clear, there is no moral equivalence between Hamas's terrorism and Israel's justified response."

Following Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, which left almost 1200 Israelis dead, Israel has been conducting an invasion of Gaza and the Israeli Defense Force has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

"Issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel would not only be unjustified, it would expose your organisation's hypocrisy and double standards. Your office has not issued arrest warrants for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or any other Iranian official, Syrian President Bashar al Assad or any other Syrian official, or Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh or any other Hamas official. Nor have you issued an arrest warrant for the genocidal General Secretary of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, or any other Chinese official."

The letter also said that neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC and are therefore outside its "supposed jurisdiction".

"The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you. If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned."