Senate Fails to Clear Procedural Hurdle on ICC Sanctions Bill

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 7, 2019. Peter Dejong/AP Photo

The Senate failed on Jan. 28 to clear a procedural hurdle on a bill that would sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) over issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The tally to invoke cloture on the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act was 54–45 thereby not clearing the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate. All Democrats but one, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), voted against the motion.

The bill, which the House passed earlier this month, would allow the United States to sanction ICC officials involved with issuing warrants against American citizens or officials from countries that are U.S. allies.

The measure would also end all U.S. funding for the ICC.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that while the ICC warrants were wrong, the bill was flawed and that it would, for example, allow President Donald Trump to “arbitrarily sanction the heads of state of our allies.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has decried the warrants.

“After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister in November, I called on the Democrat leader to bring up an ICC sanctions bill that had already passed the House—again with bipartisan support,” Thune said on the Senate floor on Jan. 8.

“The ICC’s rogue actions only enable the terrorists who seek to wipe Israel off the map—and they cannot be allowed to stand unchecked.”

Thune said he promised in November 2024 that if Schumer, who was then the Senate majority leader, didn’t bring the bill to the floor, Republicans would when they regained the Senate in January.

“And we’ll soon fulfill that promise and have a vote to support our ally Israel,” he said.

In its announcement about the warrants, the ICC accused Netanyahu and Gallant of “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts” as it pertains to Israel’s war in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.

The ICC also said that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire earlier this month that stops the fighting temporarily and provides a roadmap to a longer-term peace deal.

Netanyahu fired Gallant in November.

“More than ever, in the midst of a war, full trust is required between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense,” said Netanyahu in a statement.

“Unfortunately, although there was such trust in the first months of the campaign and very fruitful work, during the last months, this trust cracked between me and the Minister of Defense,” he said.

Netanyahu and Gallant criticized the warrants.

The prime minister said the ICC was undertaking “absurd and false actions,” while Gallant said the warrants “sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare and encourages murderous terrorism.”

“There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza,” said Netanyahu in a statement.