Hageman supports ICC sanction bill

CASPER (WNE) — Rep. Harriet Hageman has voted in favor of an act that seeks to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court following the court’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in May accused the two Israeli officials and three Hamas leaders of the crimes of extermination and murder, alongside additional charges.

The House Resolution passed the house on Tuesday with a 247-155 vote.

The bill, in addition to sanctioning the ICC, also sanctions any foreign actor who supports their effort to arrest, detain, or prosecute protected persons of the United States and its allies, which include Israel.

“The ICC is a failed and biased organization, as evidenced by the fact that it has ignored atrocities by Iran and the Hamas terrorists but threatens a democracy like Israel with baseless charges and arrest warrants for its leaders — leaders that are simply responding to the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 and ensuring that they are not further threatened,” Hageman said in press release on Tuesday.

“I am proud to have co-sponsored this legislation. America must stand with Israel, and it must ensure that our own fate is never determined by globalist foreign entities.”

The ICC was established in 2002 and was created to serve as a “court of last resort.”

The ICC is supposed to complement existing national judicial systems and may exercise jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute. Netanyahu and Gallant are unlikely to face any real threat of prosecution as Israel is not a member of the court.

This story was published on June 6, 2024.