By Rep. Adrian Smith
Ensuring the United States meets challenges we face around the world is a demanding but vital task. Dispute resolution and advanced international cooperation are rarely straightforward, with bad faith actors abusing processes and power. To promote the best interests of our citizens and preserve our security, we must unapologetically demonstrate American leadership and boldly stand with the friends of freedom around the world.
This week in the House, I supported passage of bipartisan legislation to protect American sovereignty and affirm our ally Israel’s right to defend itself. Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization which purports to have legal authority to indict, try, and sentence individuals under international law. However, since its creation in 2002, the ICC has consistently been plagued by dysfunction, corruption, and misuse.
In 2020, President Trump issued an executive order placing economic sanctions and visa restrictions on ICC officials involved in any ICC effort to investigate or prosecute U.S. citizens or our allies, including Israel. Yet, in 2021, President Biden revoked this order without securing any substantial reforms at the ICC.
The ICC’s November 2024 issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former Israeli military official is the most recent example of the court’s lack of credibility. This attempt by South Africa and a coalition of longstanding anti-Israel advocates to obstruct and undermine Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, attacks on and abduction of its own citizens is an egregious abuse of the court’s power.
While President Biden has spoken against these warrants by the ICC, he has neglected to reinstate the sanctions or take meaningful action to hold the ICC accountable.
The bill passed by the House this week, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, would require the president to impose such sanctions and prohibit any future federal funding from going to the ICC. I supported House passage of this bill both last Congress and in the first week of this Congress to stand up against exploitation of purported “international justice” and uphold our nation’s and our allies’ self-determination.
Challenges to U.S. sovereignty targeting American businesses for unfair treatment don’t only originate from far-flung places. They come from our own hemisphere as well. Mexico’s absurd lawsuit accusing American gun manufacturers of aiding and abetting drug cartels within Mexico’s own borders is one such challenge. While the Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral argument for this case in March of this year, I recently joined Speaker Mike Johnson in submitting an amicus brief to the Court outlining the unconstitutional nature of this lawsuit. I expect the Supreme Court to firmly reject the Mexican government’s claim.
Holding organizations and other nations accountable for discriminatory action or neglect is essential for the United States to protect Americans and maintain good standing on the global stage. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) failure to hold China accountable for its mismanagement of the spread of COVID-19 and its coverup of the origins of the virus made the pandemic harder to combat and fundamentally compromised global trust in the WHO’s ability to address future crises. Furthermore, near the end of last month, in a blatantly anti-Israel political move, head of the WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the immediate release of a hospital director detained by Israeli forces following a raid on a facility sheltering Hamas operatives.
I am pleased President Trump has already articulated his intention to once again withdraw from the WHO after President Biden foolishly reinstated U.S. funding for the organization, again without securing reforms.
Whether it comes to public health, the lawful sale of firearms, or the allegations of an illegitimate international court, our national sovereignty must never be infringed. Those who attempt to conceal corruption and overlook the actions of terrorists while bringing false accusations against us will not prevail. I will always support and maintain the God-given rights of the American people and our allies.