How a vote on Netanyahu's ICC arrest warrant could splinter already-divided Democrats

WASHINGTON – Democrats risk splitting again as House Republican leaders prepare legislation to sanction International Criminal Court officials for seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.

The ICC’s decision on Monday to pursue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his allies over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza has sparked bipartisan fury from Washington, with both Republicans and Democrats condemning the ICC.

“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

“Israel is fighting a just war for survival, and the ICC is attempting to equate Israeli officials to the evil terrorists who perpetrated the October 7th massacre,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the ICC decision “profoundly unfair” and “reprehensible.”

Republicans are pushing to go a step further and rebuke the ICC by sanctioning or restricting chief prosecutor Karim Khan and other officials. Democrats though are more split on whether sanctioning the ICC is an appropriate course of action to pressure it to withdraw the warrants.

Johnson said Republicans are currently pursuing “very aggressive legislation that we’re going to push as quickly as possible,” at a weekly news conference. The bill would include sanctions, Johnson said, and the speaker warned that “if the ICC moves forward with it’s absurd warrant request, this will be an even bigger international problem.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the Biden administration is open to work with Congress “on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response,” but “the devil’s in the details.”

“I think we have to look at the appropriate steps to take, to deal with, again, what is profoundly a wrongheaded decision,” Blinken added.

Democratic leadership have also panned the ICC’s warrant request and congressional Democrats have often moved in lockstep with the White House but it’s unclear just how many lawmakers would agree with taking congressional action and punishing the ICC.

Democrats have already been split several times this Congress on Israel policy. Dozens of progressives voted against sending additional aid to Israel without additional conditions on the use of offensive weapons, and a handful of moderates joined with Republicans to pass a House bill that would force Biden to continue sending arms to Israel.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., a centrist Democrat, said that sanctioning the ICC sounds like “a good idea” and that he was “looking into it” but wouldn’t specify what kind of punishments he would support.

“It’s outrageous,” Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., told USA TODAY of the warrant requests. Schenider said he was “100%” on board to work with Republicans to craft legislation targeting the ICC.

It’s not certain what sanctions Republican leaders could pursue, but a bill aimed at the ICC could resemble an executive order issued by former President Donald Trump in 2020 that Biden withdrew the following year. Trump placed sanctions on a pair of ICC prosecutors that included visa restrictions for them and their family members along with freezing their assets in the U.S.

A group of Republicans in the Senate proposed potential sanctions on ICC officials earlier this year, should the court decide to prosecute Israel.

The proposal from Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., would revoke visas for any ICC official involved with the prosecution of people from the United States and its allies that are not members of the ICC, which includes Israel.

“It’s an outrageous moral equivalence,” Cotton said on Fox News Monday. “We’re working with the Republican leadership in the House to try to pass that bill promptly and hopefully force Chuck Schumer’s hand to bring it up in the Senate.”

However, it’s unclear whether the Democratically-controlled Senate would take up such a measure. Spokespeople for Schumer did not respond to a request for comment for this story, and opinions differ within his caucus.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told USA TODAY that he is part of a bipartisan group that is working on developing a response, but wasn’t clear on whether that would involve sanctions.

“And I’m in conversations with the administration,” he said. “I want to get their view as to what they think is the most effective way for us to have some impact on what’s going on.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is part of the group and says he wants sanctions. And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the ICC is “right” to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials.

“These arrest warrants may or may not be carried out,” he said in a statement. “But it is imperative that the global community uphold international law.”

Others, like Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said they’d reserve judgment until they saw the proposal before the Senate.

“I think maybe this has been given more attention than it really merits,” Kaine said. “Prosecutors recommend stuff all the time. It’s ultimately a decision for judges, not prosecutors.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Netanyahu ICC arrest warrant vote could splinter Democrats