By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House pushed back Tuesday on efforts to sanctions the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested the State Department would work with lawmakers on crafting new penalties.
"We don't believe that sanctions against the ICC is the right approach here," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
"We obviously don't believe that the ICC has jurisdiction, certainly don't support these arrest warrants. And we've said that before. We don't believe, though, that sanctioning the ICC is the answer," he added.
The comments come just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed plans to impose penalties on the ICC and its personnel in retaliation for Prosecutor Karim Khan's decision to apply for arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing reasonable grounds to believe they bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel's ongoing war in the besieged Gaza Strip.
During congressional testimony last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Blinken, "I want to take actions, not just [use] words. Will you support a bipartisan effort to sanction the ICC – not only for the outrage against Israel but to protect, in the future, our own interests?".
"I welcome working with you on that," Blinken responded.
The comments are the second in which the top US diplomat signaled support for imposing sanctions on the international court after he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the day prior that "we want to work with you on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response" to Khan's action.