The most conservative (and AIPAC-influenced) wing of the Republican Party in the United States Senate has sent correspondence to the International Criminal Court threatening sanctions, should the ICC decide to move forward with arrest warrants for top-level Israeli government officials on the basis of genocide allegations, according to multiple international news outlets.
The one-page memo, obtained by online news website Zeteo, has been sent to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan. The memo claims that these arrest warrants are “illegitimate and lack legal basis, and if carried out will result in severe sanctions” against Khan and the ICC.
“Target Israel and we will target you,” the far-right-wing senators warned. The sanctions, incidentally, would not only target ICC employees, but associates and family members, as well, primarily by virtue of attempted visa denials.
The following list comprises the twelve signatories: Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, Katie Boyd Britt, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Budd, Kevin Cramer, Bill Hagerty, Pete Ricketts, Rick Scott, Tim Scott, and Ted Cruz.
Of the twelve, Cotton can be considered undeniably the most Islamophobic based on his conduct and verbiage. He recently suggested that, in a sanitized interpretation of his comments, travelers who are annoyed by the recent pro-Palestinian protests–who might be mildly inconvenienced by impeded traffic flow–take matters into their own hands by clearing the way themselves.
This, of course, is the same Tom Cotton who also urged vigilantism in the wake of peaceful protests against the George Floyd murder at the hands of the police in 2020; but who in 2022, when a group of Canadian truckers who were angry at public health measures designed to stop the spread of Covid decided to shut down traffic in much of Ottawa and to blockade the primary route between Windsor, Ontario Province and the U.S. lauded this type of “civil disobedience.”
Rubio, McConnell, Scott, and Cruz have all been at odds with former President Donald Trump at one time or another—vacillating between hopelessly trying to expose Trump’s narcissism as they ran as Republican alternatives themselves to no avail—and kissing up to Trump, either in the hopes that he would select them as potential running mates, or in a shamelessly groveling attempt to otherwise endear themselves to the MAGA crowd which has obviously been so hypnotized by the former president.
The group refused to make even a veiled attempt to hide their agenda, asserting that the U.S. and Israel are essentially a single entity, while opining that the issue of an arrest warrant against the Israeli leadership would be interpreted not only as “a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States.”
Also, while the letter did indeed elucidate that neither Israel nor the U.S. are members of the ICC and are therefore outside its “supposed jurisdiction,” it contradictorily promised that if such an arrest warrant is issued, (the group) “will move to end all American support for the ICC,” in addition to the aforementioned sanctions.
Democratic opposition, coming from Senator Chris Van Hollen, has equated this development with “thuggery” and “mafia” maneuvering against the world’s top international court.
The ICC has since not publicly commented on the matter, perhaps in an effort to avoid legitimizing this type of vigilante warfare, but did indicate that “independence and impartiality” are “undermined” when individuals threaten to retaliate, as it urged an end to the intimidation of its staff.