Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

“Target Israel and we will target you”: U.S. Senators Play Schoolyard Bully Against the ICC
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
08 May 2024
🖨️ Print Article
Karim Khan
Karim Khan KC, ICC Prosecutor (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

The ICC recently revealed that U.S. Republican Senators sent a threatening letter to the ICC in response to Israel's concern that an arrest warrant may be issued against it. This pressure campaign on the ICC is but one piece of the United States' attempt to shield Israel from accountability for its crimes.

Despite the fact that the United States is not a member nation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), that organization has been under its sway from its inception. The ICC has only prosecuted Africans and a few Serbians who were accused of war crimes during the NATO-engineered breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The ICC has never issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s many documented war crimes.

After Israeli officials publicly expressed concern that the ICC might issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli officials, U.S. pressure began in earnest. Recently a letter to the ICC signed by twelve republican senators was made public. In the letter they expressed contempt for international law and openly stated their intention to punish the ICC if it acted against Israeli officials.

“Target Israel and we will target you” and “You have been warned,” are words that should create outrage around the world. Not only is the U.S. not an ICC member state, but during the George W. Bush administration congress passed what is known as the Hague Invasion Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens or even citizens of allied nations from being prosecuted and declares a right to invade the Hague and free any such person should they fall under the control of the ICC.

The letter says that ICC officials and their families will be sanctioned and barred from entering the U.S. if arrest warrants are issued for any Israeli officials. It is unlikely that the ICC will change course and suddenly prosecute Israelis but the letter is quite instructive. It exposes how the U.S. conducts itself around the world, as a bully which uses its power to control and to dominate.

Letter to ICCLetter to ICC signature page

Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.

ICC
Israel
Genocide
Republicans

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Al Jazeera Staff
‘If you sleep, settlers will burn your house’: fear in the West Bank
28 January 2026
The Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja has held out against violent Israeli settlers – until now.
x
Orinoco Tribune
Venezuela Rejects CIA Award Rumors While President Maduro’s Son Sparks Backlash Over Comments Suggesting to Resume Diplomatic Ties with ‘Israel’
21 January 2026
Venezuela's official stance remains one of principled anti-imperialism.
Ramzy Baroud
Teetering on the Brink of Genocide: Why Netanyahu is Keen on Prolonging the Gaza War
21 January 2026
Netanyahu's continuation of the Gaza genocide is integral to the continuity of the zionist project.
Elis Gjevori
Israel kills over 700 relatives of Palestinian journalists in Gaza: Report
07 January 2026
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says Israel is using collective punishment to crush reporting of its genocidal war in Gaza.
Cradle Correspondent
Gaza's Smoke Clouds the West Bank's Flames: The Colonial Project Made Permanent
10 December 2025
As international eyes stay locked on Gaza, Tel Aviv is executing its most aggressive campaign of ethnic cleansing and land theft in the occupie
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
United Nations Security Council Resolution on Gaza is a Surrender to U.S. Led Global Fascism
26 November 2025
By approving a U.S.
The Cradle News Desk
Israeli soldiers confirm Palestinian civilians murdered 'without restraint' in Gaza 'free for all'
12 November 2025
A new film shows that Israeli troops were encouraged to exterminate Palestinians, including women and children, by their politicians and Jewish
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Use and Abuse of the Genocide Convention
05 November 2025
Genocide crime, as defined by the 
book
Dylan Evans
Book Review: The Sword and the Neck – Reading the al-Aqsa Flood by Yanis Iqbal
05 November 2025
Operation Al Aqsa Flood was immediately cast as unprovoked terrorism.
Steve Salaita
Palestine and the Making of a New New World
29 October 2025
The liberation of Palestine is, above all, a world-building project.

More Stories


  • Sudan
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , Ahmed Kaballo
    Struggling for Sovereignty: Sudan After Two Years of Civil War
    17 Dec 2025
    After two years of civil war, Sudan is now the site of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. However, as in most conflicts in the Global South, colonial and neocolonial history are a large part…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Turtle Island Liberation Front Warning for Activists
    17 Dec 2025
    Arrests of members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front are the latest in a decades-long effort to criminalize the left and to make examples of anyone who might fit the profile of being a "…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    REVIEW: Radical Black Reading, 2025
    17 Dec 2025
    An end-of-the-year radical Black reading list from the editors of The Black Agenda Review.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
    17 Dec 2025
    "Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Ben Passmore’s Book, “Black Arms to Hold You Up”
    17 Dec 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Ben Passmore. Passmore is the author of the ongoing comic book series Daygloayhole, as…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us