Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are condemning the International Criminal Court’s decision on Thursday to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Republicans in the Senate and House are vowing that passing sanctions targeting the court and its officials — legislation that passed the House on a bipartisan basis but has been blocked in the Democratic-led Senate — will be an early priority for them in the next Congress.

“The ICC greatly overstepped its jurisdiction. It has no jurisdiction here,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told Jewish Insider. “The thing that’s most troubling to me is, by doing these two things at the same time — indicting the head of Hamas, the head of Israel — they are attempting to establish a moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel.”

He lamented that international organizations “try to have one foot on each side of the fence” and said that a court “should know right from wrong, it should know good from bad, and it’s not acting like that.”

Risch said that the sanctions legislation will be “at the top of my agenda for this coming Congress,” and, in a statement, called for the Biden administration to immediately cut off funding for and sanction the court, or for Congress to pass the sanctions bill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the decision is “damning… Not for Israel, but for the impotent sham court flaunting its lack of moral clarity as a badge of honor.”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the incoming Senate majority leader, called the warrants “outrageous, unlawful and dangerous” and said that if Senate Democrats do not act on the sanctions bill, “the new Senate Republican majority next year will.”

A White House spokesperson did not address a question from JI about whether the administration would now support sanctions — which it has previously opposed — in light of the arrest warrants.

“The United States fundamentally rejects the Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials. We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” a National Security Council spokesperson said. “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps.”

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), the incoming White House national security advisor, hinted that the Trump administration plans to hit back, saying, “you can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.”

It’s not clear that issuance of the warrants — which lawmakers had hoped to avoid — will change thinking among Senate Democrats about the sanctions legislation before the end of the year.

“Once again, the ICC has shown its blatant anti-Israel bias. Israel has every right to defend itself against murderous terror by Hamas and other hateful entities and the US will continue to support Israel[‘s] right to self-defense,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement. “I condemn and reject the ICC’s harmful action.”

He did not mention potential legislative remedies.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told JI the arrest warrants are “a total betrayal of justice. It’s a sham, and the United States should unequivocally denounce this lawless action.”

Asked about the prospect of sanctions, Blumenthal remained hesitant.

“Sanctions may dignify the warrant more than it deserves,” Blumenthal said. “Certainly they’re deserving of it.”

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), one of the lawmakers who led the effort on Wednesday to halt some U.S. arms transfers to Israel, said he doesn’t see the warrants as productive.

“My focus is on trying to get a cease-fire and bring this terrible conflict to an end,” Welch told JI. “I’m not sure how that helps.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the decision “an absolute outrage” and said he supported sanctions against the court and anyone who aids and abets these prosecutions. 

“The ICC already lacks legitimacy, but with this bigoted and politicized decision, the ICC has turned itself into a kangaroo court,” Cruz told JI. “That, frankly, is unfair to kangaroos.”

“Everyone involved in this decision should face American sanctions, and anyone who attempts to enforce this decision should face American sanctions,” Cruz said. “This would not have happened if we had a commander-in-chief who was strong and who stood with Israel. This is a threat to Israel, of course, but also to America. I am confident that President Trump returning to the Oval Office will change the dynamics dramatically on this front,” he added.  

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) excoriated the court in a statement, going as far as to threaten military action.

“The ICC is a kangaroo court and [ICC Prosector] Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants,” Cotton said. “Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it.”

The legislation Cotton is referring to, formally known as the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, authorizes “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court.”

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) called on Biden in a statement to “use his authority to swiftly respond to [the ICC’s] overreach.” 

Rosen and several colleagues had referenced the same law Cotton did in a letter to the administration earlier this year, in which she urged the administration “to fully implement the law should the Court move forward with action against Israel.”

Other Democrats also condemned the court’s decision without directly addressing the sanctions issue.

“The decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials is shameful,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement. “I stand with the Biden administration in fundamentally rejecting this unserious decision. America’s commitment to the security of Israel is ironclad and we will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself against terror.”

However, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) a pro-Israel Democrat who voted against the sanctions bill when it came through the House, said that he now believes sanctions are necessary.

“Given this outrageous perversion of justice and abetting of Hamas’s tactics by the ICC, I believe the U.S. must act swiftly to sanction the ICC,” Sherman said in a statement. “We cannot allow the politicized distortion of international law and institutions [to] go without consequence.”

He said the decision had destroyed any legitimacy the ICC had and “rewarded Hamas’ tactics.”