With the strong support and vote of Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), the House of Representatives today passed (243-140) the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act (HR 23) to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its rampant antisemitism and abuse of power, especially since the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on innocent Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023.
The vote comes less than two months after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—which Smith called “a grotesquely bad decision by a court that is corrupted by blatant antisemitism.”
“The ICC’s actions support Hamas’ explicitly antisemitic and genocidal campaign of terror against Israel, and Congress must respond in the most forceful way possible,” said Smith.
“Antisemitism is at the root of Hamas violence against Israel,” Smith said. “Every Jewish man, woman, and child and is explicitly expressed in Hamas’ 1988 Charter, which demands the absolute destruction of the state of Israel and proclaims: ‘Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.’”
“Tragically, the ICC’s latest action is a further manifestation of the ongoing use of international organizations and venues to promote antisemitism and the persecution of the Jewish people,” said Smith, who chaired four congressional hearings last Congress exposing the antisemitism that infiltrates the United Nations and related international organizations.
Similar legislation to sanction the ICC passed the House last June but was never taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate. With a new Republican-controlled Senate, Smith said he hopes this time will be different.
“The Senate should immediately pass this critical legislation,” said Smith. “The ICC is a rogue actor on the world stage, and the United States must have a more effective long-term approach for how to respond to it.”
“It is long past time the United States held international organizations accountable for their antisemitism and their corruption,” Smith said.
“Israel needs the ability to defend itself—and they need friends and partners who will stand beside them,” said Smith.
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