White House: Sanctions on ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant are ‘not the answer’

The White House comes out against legislation being pushed by House Republicans to sanction senior members of the International Criminal Court over its pursuit of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“We also don’t believe the ICC has jurisdiction [in this case], so we don’t support these arrest warrants. However, we don’t believe that sanctioning the ICC is the answer,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a press briefing.

Last week, the US came out against ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant along with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, saying the court had no authority to weigh in on the matter since Israel is not a member, has its own legal systems to adjudicate such charges and was in the process of cooperating with Khan when he cut off contact and rushed to announce his decision.

The administration also said it would work with Congress to advance a bipartisan response to Khan’s move.

While Kirby’s announcement that the US will not support sanctioning the ICC all but nixes the path being pursued by Republicans, Congress could still pass legislation threatening sanctions against countries considering abiding by any arrest warrants drawn up by The Hague court in this case.