Republicans warn against executing ICC warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant

US Republican lawmakers have denounced an International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrants for genocide-accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, warning countries against executing ICC's order.

President-elect Donald Trump's incoming National Security Advisor pledged a strong response in January, saying ICC has no credibility.

Claiming falsely that the ICC's actions are "anti-Semitic," Representative Mike Waltz, said: "The ICC has no credibility, and these allegations have been refuted by the US government."

"You can expect a strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the ICC & UN come January."

Senator Lindsey Graham vowed legislation targeting countries that cooperate with the ICC's decision.

"If we do not act forcefully against the ICC after their outrageous decision … we are making a huge mistake," Graham said, and claimed that the US could be the next target of the court's actions.

"Israel is not a member of the ICC nor is the United States. If we do not fight back, it is as if we are conceding that they have jurisdiction over the United States."

Graham said he would propose legislation to impose consequences on nations that "aid and abet" the ICC in enforcing the arrest warrants, describing such actions as reckless and undermining the rule of law.

Ironically, Graham has in the past supported ICC's arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The decision by the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin is a giant step in the right direction for the international community. It is more than justified by the evidence," he said in response to ICC's May 2023 order.

AIPAC blueprint all over Trump's new cabinet

The Hague-based court announced arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on Thursday "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024."

It also unanimously rejected Israel's challenges to jurisdiction under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute.

The court said it "found reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

As Trump prepares to take office on Jan 20, 2025, he has in recent weeks announced a slate of appointees with deep ties to Christian and Jewish Zionism and with connections to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a powerful lobbying group that exerts disproportionate influence over US foreign policy with the sole aim of advancing Israel's interests.

Waltz, for example, has openly supported Israel's hardline policies, receiving $235,966 from pro-Israel lobby groups, including AIPAC.

Another Republican lawmaker, Jim Risch, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the arrest warrants a "complete disgrace."

He said Israel is not under the jurisdiction of the ICC, adding: "The US must move forward with sanctions against this corrupt organisation."

Like Graham, Risch too had hailed ICC for its arrest warrant against Russia's Putin in 2023.

"I welcomed the ICC's recent decision to issue arrest warrants for Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights for their despicable roles in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to Russia, in particular children," Risch said in a statement in last year.

Meanwhile, Senator Tim Scott from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee accused the ICC of acting as an "anti-Israel propaganda machine" and aligning with adversaries of the US.

"The court's illegitimate targeting of Israel for defending its people from terror should not be tolerated and should be met with immediate and severe sanctions," Scott said in a statement.

According to Track AIPAC, Scott has received $378,000 from AIPAC and the Israeli lobby in US.

Israel's genocide in Gaza

The ICC warrants come as Israel's genocidal war in Gaza entered its second year, having already killed 44,000 Palestinians, 70 percent of them women and children.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing and deliberate blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, pushing the population to the brink of starvation.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for senior Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, commonly known as Deif, "for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least October 7, 2023."

Israel claims Deif was killed in a July air raid in southern Gaza, but Hamas resistance group has yet to confirm it publicly.

Applications for arrest warrants for two other senior leaders of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, were withdrawn in August and October, respectively, following the confirmation of their deaths, the ICC said.