Bipartisan Senators Respond to ICC Arrest Warrants Issued for Israeli Leaders

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 21, 2024 – U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and John Thune (R-S.D.) released the following statement after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant:

“We are disappointed in the ICC’s decision to move ahead with arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant given the Court’s lack of jurisdiction over Israel and its refusal to engage with Israel as required by law. We cannot abide the Court acting against a sovereign, independent, judicially independent democracy that is not a party to the Rome Statute. Now is an important time for America to speak with a single voice. Acquiescing to the Court’s jurisdiction over Israel is to agree, in theory, they have jurisdiction over the United States.”

Senator Britt with Senators Graham, Blumenthal, Thune, Fetterman, Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) chastised the ICC earlier this year regarding its decision to apply for arrest warrants for democratically-elected leaders. 

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