Andy Biggs: “Neither the United States nor Israel recognize the legitimacy of the ICC. We are not members. The ICC has no authority…”

“Neither the United States nor Israel recognize the legitimacy of the ICC. We are not members. The ICC has no authority to violate the sovereignty of either of those nations. This bill is essential for protecting American citizens, servicemembers, our allies, especially Israel, from these politically motivated, punitive prosecutions by the ICC. Israel and its leaders have an inherent right to defend themselves against these terrorist attacks that occurred from Hamas, and they get to also attempt to rescue these hostages, but the ICC's attempts to interfere with Israel's self-defense and issue arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and their minister of defense, undermines justice. As the only Member of Congress who actually attended the Rome Conference that formulated the ICC document in the summer of 1998, I can attest that the ICC is hopelessly biased and is illegitimate. It claims authority it does not have. It attempts to claim jurisdiction and issue sanctions against Israel as we could have predicted, and many of us did who were at that conference watching this ICC form. The ICC is an institution without a mandate from the international community, and the ICC must understand that the United States will not allow its overreach to harm U.S. citizens or our allies. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr.…”