US Senator threatens sanctions on any Western ally that complies with ICC’s Israel arrest warrants

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to reporters after meeting with Vice President-elect JD Vance and nominee to be Attorney General former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in the Capitol on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. [Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images]

A senior Republican American Senator has threatened to impose sanctions on any allied states if they abide by and enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, in the latest condemnations by US politicians against the ICC ruling.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Republican US Senator, Lindsey Graham, stated to Western allies that “if you are going to help the ICC as a nation and force the arrest warrant against Bibi and Gallant, the former Defence Minister, I will put sanctions on you as a nation.” He stressed that “you’re gonna have to pick the rogue ICC versus America”.

Further addressing “any ally, [such as] Canada, Britain, Germany, [or] France”, Graham warned them that “if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you”. When asked by the interviewer what penalty should be given to those states that comply with the warrants, the US Senator replied by saying “we should crush your economy, because we’re next”, referring to fears that the ICC could soon turn on US politicians over their and Washington’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Graham’s remarks are the latest condemnation of the ICC to come from an American Senator over the past week, with many US politicians – particularly those who are notoriously funded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – having expressed outrage at the Court’s decision.

In a similar vein, US Republican Senator, Tom Cotton, referred to the ICC as “a kangaroo court” and its chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, as “a deranged fanatic”, and even threatened military action against the ICC, the Hague and, subsequently, the Netherlands itself if the Israeli leaders were to be detained and put on trial, citing The Hague Invasion Act of 2002 as a precedent for such action.

Read: What’s next after ICC issues warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders?

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