Outspoken Progressive Democrats Critical of Israel Keep Mum on ICC Seeking Arrest of Israeli Leaders

Several of the most prominent progressive members of the Democratic Party and outspoken critics of Israel in the US Congress have kept silent amid news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s office is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief.

Both Republicans and Democrats slammed the ICC for targeting Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant amid the Jewish state’s ongoing war against Hamas, a Palestinian terror group that launched the conflict with its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. US lawmakers from both major parties decried the ICC’s decision to draw a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, three of whose leaders are also being pursued by the court.

However, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) released a statement in which she accused Israel of “war crimes” and expressed approval of the ICC’s announcement. She urged the US government not to intervene with the court’s processes. 

“The International Criminal Court must be allowed to conduct its work independently and without interference. The application for arrest warrants is merely the beginning of a judicial process. The ICC has been a functioning court – it has seen convictions, acquittals, and dismissals, as we would expect from an impartial and non-political judicial body,” Omar wrote. 

“The allegations from the prosecutor’s office are significant, and it has long been my belief that the absence of credible processes for justice are a key reason the conflict between Israel and Palestinians continues to escalate,” Omar continued. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) commented on the matter on social media.

“Accountability for war crimes can’t be conditional,” she wrote on X/Twitter. “Seeking arrest warrants for human rights abuses is an important step towards accountability. It’s shameful for US officials to threaten the ICC while continuing to send weapons that enable war crimes.”

Some US lawmakers have threatened to impose sanctions on the ICC due to its effort to go after Israeli leaders.

Bush has been a fierce critic of the Israel, accusing the country of being an “apartheid government.” She condemned the US for what she described as facilitating a “famine” in Gaza due to its support for Israel. In April, she voted against providing additional funding to Israel, accusing the country of enacting an “ongoing genocide.”

Despite Omar and Bush’s statements, other members of the so-called “Squad” of far-left US lawmakers have been noticeably silent about the ICC’s controversial decision.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) did not release a statement through her office or on social media in response to the ICC’s announcement. Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress, has long been a fierce critic of Israel. Earlier this month, Tlaib issued a statement calling for the ICC to “swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials” over the war in Gaza. Tlaib has accused Israel’s military response to Hamas, which slaughtered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 others in its Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state, as a “genocide.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) also did not release a statement regarding the ICC’s announcement. Bowman has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, accusing the country of committing “genocide” against the Palestinian population. J-Street, a progressive advocacy group, rescinded its endorsement of Bowman earlier this year in response to his hostile rhetoric regarding Israel in the months following the Oct. 7 attacks. Bowman currently trails Westchester County Executive George Latimer in the Democratic primary by double-digits, according to polls.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) similarly did not issue a statement in response to the ICC. Ocasio-Cortez first called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas during a CNN interview in October 2023, an exchange in which the congresswoman struggled to explain how Israel should go about reaching its security goals. Last month, Ocasio-Cortez  voted against supplying Israel with arms and compared the humanitarian situation in Gaza to “an unfolding genocide.”

Tlaib, Bowman, and Ocasio-Cortez all did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

More moderate members of the Democratic Party condemned the ICC for drawing an equivalency between Israel and Hamas. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called the ICC’s decision “not law but politics,” while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) slammed the ICC’s announcement as “disgusting” and said the organization’s “credibility is now in shambles.”