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

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ARTICLE: “Trade in Blacks” Practiced in Haiti; Tension Among Peasants Increases,” Jacques Roumain, 1937
07 October 2026
“Between October 2 and October 8, 1937, between 15,000 and 40,000 Haitians and Black Dominicans were slaughtered by Dominican troops…
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
An open letter to the honorable people of the United States of America
07 October 2026
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued a letter addressed to the American people, outlining its views on recent developments a
Dr. M. Reza Behnam
Three Years of Genocide: How ‘Never Again’ Lost Meaning in Gaza
07 October 2026
If international law and justice are buried in the rubble of Gaza, the global community will ultimately be digging its own grave.
Sami Al-Arian
Why Hamas believed the status quo was more dangerous than its 7 October gamble
07 October 2026
Three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the consequences of a decision driven by siege, settlement expansion, and assaults on Al-Aqsa are s
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Defending a Non-Existent International Law
30 September 2026
The Hague Group’s goal is to “. . .
Roberta Rivolta
Western Activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co
Libertad para Fergie
Free Fergie Chambers: Solidarity Is Not a Crime
09 September 2026
Fergie Chambers is an American philanthropist who was arrested on July 10 in Ibiza, Spain, by order of the Trump Administration.
Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
26 August 2026
The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperi
Ramzy Baroud
Solidarity Is Not Enough
19 August 2026
Why the world must force accountability on Gaza now.

More Stories


  • Coup d’état or Insurrection – What’s Good for the Goose… 
    Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
    Coup d’état or Insurrection – What’s Good for the Goose… 
    13 Jan 2021
    Under what authority does the American government have the right to instigate and execute coup’s against democratically elected governments in other countries?
  • The Trump Administration’s Parting Outrage Against Cuba
    Medea Benjamin and Leonardo Flores
    The Trump Administration’s Parting Outrage Against Cuba
    13 Jan 2021
    Cuba’s placement on the state sponsors of terror list is meant to be a thorn in any plan by the Biden administration for rapprochement.
  • On the Anniversary of His Death, Theodore W. Allen’s Analysis Still Resonates
    Jeffrey B. Perry
    On the Anniversary of His Death, Theodore W. Allen’s Analysis Still Resonates
    13 Jan 2021
    “White supremacy” wrote Allen, is “both the keystone and the Achilles heel of U.S. bourgeois democracy.”
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of January 11, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of January 11, 2021
    11 Jan 2021
    Cops Colluded  with Trump Mob at Capitol
  •  Black Feminism Informed by “Sensuous Knowledge”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Feminism Informed by “Sensuous Knowledge”
    11 Jan 2021
    Because of historical exclusion, “Black women’s social and political desires have always had to be shaped outside of the dogmatic and the normative – inside of the liminal, the fugitive and the ima
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us