In the Midst of the Gaza War, US Senator Threatens the International Criminal Court

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Senator Tom Cotton led the group. Several Republican Party senators who signed the letter included Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz.

Recently, Cotton has become known as a senator who cannot distinguish between Singapore and China during a hearing with Tiktok's Director, Shou Zi Chew. He is also considered as a potential vice presidential candidate to accompany Donald Trump in the US presidential election in November 2024.

”The lawsuit against the Government of Israel is the same as threatening US sovereignty. If this continues, we will stop all US support for the ICC, impose sanctions on all ICC staff and parties involved, and ban you and your family from entering US territory. You have been warned," the letter said.

Through the letter, the senators accused the ICC of supporting terrorism. According to them, the ICC has not ordered the arrest of Hamas leaders. However, after the Badai Aqsa attack on October 7, 2023, the ICC condemned Hamas' inhumane actions.

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Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, rejected the ICC's decision. He said that Israel would not submit and would continue to fight, in the sense of attacking Gaza to fight Hamas. In fact, the Israeli government, based on the coverage of the newspaper The New York Times in the April 28 2024 edition, believes that the ICC is preparing an investigation and possibly arrest warrants for a number of high-ranking Hamas officials.

The ICC has issued an official response regarding the threat through social media X. The ICC stated that any form of threat towards their institution, officials, and employees violates Article 70 of the Rome Statute and must be halted immediately.

This agreement was signed by 124 countries. The US and Israel are not among the countries that have signed it and are not members of the ICC.

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White House Spokesperson Karinne Jean-Pierre, Friday (3/5/2024), said that The White House does not support any form of intimidation of any party, including the ICC. However, he declined to comment on the letter from 12 Republican senators.

The Hague Invasion Act

Long before the 12 senators' letter, there was another threat from the US to the ICC. However, this is the first time, during the administration of Joe Biden, that Washington has clashed with the ICC.

However, in March 2023, Biden supported the ICC. At that time, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Biden also lifted Trump's sanctions on the ICC for investigating allegations of human rights violations by the US military in Afghanistan.

In fact, the US Government is afraid of the ICC. In 2002, President George W Bush signed the US Civil Service Protection Act (UU), which is also often referred to by the informal term The Hague Invasion Act. Its contents are for the US Government to do everything possible to release US military members, state officials and civil servants who are detained, accused or investigated by the ICC for any reason.

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The U.S. President in the law has full authority to deploy military forces to invade The Hague - the capital of the Netherlands where the ICC office is located - to free U.S. citizens detained by the ICC.

"Expressing opinions is everyone's freedom, including opposing judicial action. However, interfering with judicial decisions, let alone issuing threats, is a big mistake. "This is the work of a mafia group, not a senator," said Chris van Hollen, a senator from the Democratic Party to Zeteo.

The Deputy Chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Edward Ahmed Mitchell, also voiced his condemnation of the letter in an official statement on the institution's website. According to him, the 12 senators clearly violated international regulations. If similar threats were made to judges or prosecutors in the U.S., they would immediately be categorized as violations of law enforcement. (AFP/Reuters)