A group of influential Republican senators has sent a letter to International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan, warning him not to issue international arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, and threatening him with “severe sanctions” if he does so.

In a terse, one-page letter obtained exclusively by Zeteo, and signed by 12 GOP senators, including Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida’s Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz of Texas, Khan is informed that any attempt by the ICC to hold Netanyahu and his colleagues to account for their actions in Gaza will be interpreted “not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States.”

“Target Israel and we will target you,” the senators tell Khan, adding that they will “sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States.”

In their letter, the dozen Republican senators remind Khan that the U.S. “demonstrated in the American Service-Members’ Protection Act the lengths to which we will go to protect [its] sovereignty.”

The ASPA, signed into law by George W. Bush in 2002, has since become widely known as “The Hague Invasion Act” because it authorizes the U.S. president “to use all means necessary and appropriate” to bring about the release not just of U.S. persons but also allies who are imprisoned or detained by the ICC.

  • DoctorNope@lemmy.one
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    6 months ago

    I dunno, it seems to me that if someone starts threatening you over something you’re investigating, you should probably take that as a sign to investigate even harder…

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Note that the American domestic fascist party also supports a (foreign) jewish nationalist ethnostate (zionism), despite being the main group promoting antisemitism domestically.

      It’s almost like authoritarians and fascists are defined by their authoritarianism and fascism — authoritarians of a feather, genocide together — instead of their religion, race, or ethnicity…

      • intrepid@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        The common factor between their support of Zionism and their domestic antisemitism, is hate. They support Zionism since they hate the Muslims. They’re domestically antisemitic because they hate the Jews. They’re motivated and driven by hate. They are the poison that the civilized world dies on.

        • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          There’s an additional aspect. An interpretation of the end-times prophecy. Some believe (primarily evangelicals) that God promised the Holy Land to the Jewish people, and that reestablishing Israel’s political boundaries will begin the end times. So as much as they may hate the Jews, they must be in power in Israel.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          6 months ago

          I’m sure a lot of it has to do with campaign donations as well. The party is full of hate, but I feel these politicians are just mouthpieces for their donors in their own personal pursuit of power and wealth.

          • Beetlejuice001@lemmy.wtf
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            6 months ago

            Exactly, Christians have no pious convictions or beliefs. They say and do whatever they’re paid to say or is convenient