Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has called out House leadership for including a bill as part of a proposed rules package designed to protect Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The rules package, which is set to be voted on Friday after the new House elects its speaker, includes a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court, which recently issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif.
“The United States is a sovereign country, so I don’t assign any credibility to decisions of the International Criminal Court,” Massie wrote on X. “But how did a bill to protect Netanyahu make it into the House rules package to be voted on immediately after the Speaker vote? Where are our priorities?!”
The bill would impose sanctions “with respect to the International Criminal Court engaged in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.”
The House passed a bill to sanction the ICC last year, but it was not taken up by the Senate. The US does have a law on the books that authorizes the use of military force against the Hague-based ICC to free any US or allied government officials or service members, nicknamed the Hague Invasion Act.
Massie is often the sole Republican in the House who votes against pro-Israel legislation and has been outspoken about the influence of the Israel lobby on Congress. In an interview with Tucker Carlson last year, Massie said every Republican in Congress except him has an “AIPAC babysitter,” referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country.
Massie has also gone against his own party by opposing the re-election of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has been endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump. Johnson played a decisive role in passing the $95 billion foreign military aid that President Biden signed into law last year.
