Boise City Wire

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and John Thune (R-S.D.) issued a statement in response to the International Criminal Court's decision to apply for arrest warrants for democratically-elected Israeli officials.

“These actions by the ICC jeopardize efforts to bring about sustainable peace in the Middle East. It puts at risk sensitive negotiations to bring home hostages, including Americans, and surge humanitarian assistance," the statement read.

The senators expressed concerns over what they described as a "false equivalence" drawn by the ICC between Israel and Hamas. They stated: “The application for arrest warrants also draws a false equivalence between Israel with its longstanding commitment to the rule of law, and Hamas’ theocratic, autocratic, and unaccountable rule over Gaza. To state the obvious: Israel is a functioning democracy, while Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

They further noted that representatives of the ICC were scheduled to be in Israel to set up meetings between Israeli officials and ICC Prosecutor Khan’s team next week. The purpose was to discuss allegations and concerns—a process they had encouraged as consistent with complementarity principles.

“The ICC’s precipitous action in applying for arrest warrants in this instance runs contrary to the promotion of rule of law globally; Israel has a long history as a functioning democracy, with an independent judiciary and military justice system," they continued. "We have great confidence in the Israeli judicial system’s ability to administer justice. The principle of complementarity should be honored, allowing a nation’s legal system to act first."

The statement concluded by questioning the impartiality of ICC investigations due to their lack of engagement with the Israeli government on specific concerns: “Acting today without engaging the Israeli government on these specific concerns calls into question the unbiased approach ICC investigations are supposed to have."

The senators affirmed their ongoing bipartisan efforts: “We will continue to work in a bipartisan manner to strenuously object to the ICC’s actions against our ally, Israel, and take appropriate steps to help Israel and protect American personnel from future ICC action.”

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