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The new Republican leader in the Senate threatened to impose sanctions against the ICC for harassing Netanyahu.

The new leader of the Republicans in the US Senate, John Thune, has threatened this Sunday to assert the Republican majority in the upper house and support sanctions legislation against the International Criminal Court (ICC) in retaliation for the request of the Prosecutor’s Office. The body will issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Galant.

He added, “If the ICC and its prosecutors do not reverse their reprehensible and illegal actions in seeking arrest warrants against Israeli officials, the Senate should immediately pass a sanctions legislation, as the House of Representatives has already done in a bipartisan manner.” Is.” Message on his social network account

The South Dakota senator has hinted at approval of a bill by the US House of Representatives (Lower) to sanction senior ICC officials in May this year following his request to issue an arrest warrant against Attorney General Kareem Khan. Two Israeli leaders for the alleged commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian Territory.

Republicans have also assured that, if the current majority leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, “does not act” in this regard, “the Republican majority in the Senate will support (its) key ally, Israel, and make it—and “Supporting other legislation is a top priority in the next Congress.”

Thune’s forceful comments came just a week after Republican senators elected him as their new leader in the upper house, where the party holds a majority in the legislature following elections in early November. In which Donald Trump was elected. chairman.

Khan announced in May his decision to request the issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza who was killed by Israel; the leader of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Diab al Masri, known as Abu Deif; And the slain head of the formation’s political wing, Ismail Haniya, also died for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity following the October 7 attacks by the Islamic group and the subsequent Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.