Central South Dakota News

U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) today led a bipartisan group of colleagues in introducing a Sense of the Senate resolution to reject the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

On May 20, 2024, it was announced that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as three leaders from Hamas. The application will be reviewed by the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber, which will decide whether to issue the warrants. The Pre-Trial Chamber can take anywhere between one month and one year to issue arrest warrants after reviewing applications. Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the treaty that established the International Criminal Court.

“It is unconscionable that the ICC prosecutor would seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for defending against Hamas terrorists,” said Rounds. “Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization while Israel is a democracy and ally of the United States that works hard to uphold international law. This action by the ICC prosecutor draws an equivalency that is devoid of reality. I am proud to lead my colleagues in this resolution that tells the world that we stand with Israel.”

“The International Criminal Court’s decision to charge Israeli leadership with war crimes is shocking and disgraceful. Israel is facing an existential threat in Hamas’s brutal terrorist agenda, and I have continued to support the country’s right to defend itself in a manner expected of a nation that abides by the law of armed conflict,” said Manchin. “I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution with Senator Rounds to condemn the ICC’s outrageous choice that equates Israel’s efforts to secure its homeland with the barbarism of Hamas, and I encourage all of my colleagues to join us.”

Rounds and Manchin were joined on this resolution by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).