Dear Khani - The Senate is about to vote on H.R. 23, a bill designed to shield Netanyahu, and other major violators of human rights, from investigation or prosecution at the International Criminal Court. While Trump is talking about “cleaning out” Gaza (a.k.a. ethnic cleansing), his allies are working to remove any possibility of accountability for Israel’s crimes. I wrote earlier about this bill (see below) and if you’ve already made a call, please call again, and ask your Senators if they have taken a position on the bill. H.R. 23 is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon. At that time they will need 60 votes to proceed. That means we have a chance to stop it if we can convince almost all of the Democrats to refuse to vote for this horrible bill. Can you call right away? Here's what to do: 1) Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 2) Ask to be connected to your Senators’ offices (make two calls, one to each senator). 3) Once connected, give them this message (in as much of your own words as possible) Hello, my name is ______________ and I am a constituent. I urge the Senator to vote NO on the ICC sanctions bill, the "Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act". This bill is clearly designed to shield Bibi Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders from accountability for the horrific war crimes in Gaza. The U.S. should not be putting sanctions on the International Criminal Court for appropriately investigating alleged war crimes by Israeli – and Hamas – leaders. The Senate should not vote to sanction the ICC for doing its job while the U.S. continues to send the weapons used in human rights violations. Such a stance, of enabling human rights violations while protecting the perpetrators, would only harm the reputation of the United States further with the global community." Your calls to the Senate are critical because Trump is actively supporting very extreme actions by Israel against the Palestinian people – even beyond the massive destruction and killing we’ve already witnessed. Saturday, Trump endorsed the idea that Gaza be “cleaned out”, suggesting that Jordan and Egypt take in roughly 2.3 Palestinians thrilling the far-right in Israel. More immediately, Trump has just released the inherently indiscriminate 2000-pound bombs to Israel that Biden had held back. Those bombs have caused much of the worst civilian harm in Gaza. President Trump also reversed sanctions Biden had put on Israeli settlers who are violating the human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank. These moves all signal that Trump is eagerly freeing Israel of the very minimal restraints on human rights violations that were in place. This bill in the Senate makes matters even worse by shielding the perpetrators of those human rights violations. If you can make a call please do. There was a meeting last Friday with just Democratic Senators present to discuss this bill and it's unclear how the most "pro-Israel" Democrats will vote.[1] The only way to stop this bill is if the Democrats stick together and not give the Republicans the 60 votes they need to proceed. Your calls are so important. Thank you for all you do, Jon Rainwater
Executive Director
Peace Action 1. Senate Democrats tight-lipped about their plans on ICC sanctions vote, Emily Jacobs, Jewish Insider, Janauary 26, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Call your Senators at 1-202-224-3121 now to demand they vote against a bill to shield Netanyahu from accountability under the International Criminal Court. Dear Khani - I’m writing to update you on the swift progress of a bill that seeks to give Netanyahu and his cronies cover for crimes against humanity. Last week, by a vote of 243-198, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 23, a cruel and cynical bill to shield Israel and other U.S. allies from accountability at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Now they are moving swiftly to the Senate. That’s right Khani. While the U.S. rewards Israel with $8 billion in brand new weapons transfers, Congress is voting to sanction the International Criminal Court for attempting to stop the human rights violations. (In the coming days, we’ll be writing to you to recruit you in efforts to stop the weapons transfers. Stay tuned Khani.) As I mentioned last week this bill is another effort to silence human rights defenders. Anyone who “aids” the ICC in simply “investigating” someone like Netanyahu or the Israeli government – along with their family members – could also be sanctioned. This law could create a chilling effect on peace and rights organizations – that’s by design. It’s also a direct attack on the ICC itself as it investigates and prosecutes human rights crimes by Russia in Ukraine as well as in Myanmar and Sudan. The Senate vote could come any time now so it’s best to make a call rather than email. Here's what you can do: 1) Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 2) Ask to be connected to your Senators’ offices (make two calls, one to each senator). 3) Once connected, give them this message (in as much of your own words as possible): Hello, my name is ______________ and I am a constituent. I urge the Senator to vote NO the "Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act" which is expected to be voted on soon. This bill is clearly designed to shield Bibi Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders from accountability for the horrific war crimes in Gaza. The U.S. should not be putting sanctions on the International Criminal Court for appropriately investigating alleged war crimes by Israeli – and Hamas – leaders. The Senate should not vote to sanction the ICC for doing its job while the U.S. continues to send the weapons used in human rights violations. Such a stance, of enabling human rights violations while protecting the perpetrators, would only harm the reputation of the United States further with the global community. This Congressional session is getting off to a hectic start. We’re fighting the worst Trump appointments like Hegseth and Rubio, we’re opposing more arms transfers to Israel, and at the same time we need to fight back against these attacks on international human rights institutions and the effort to give people like Netanyahu – and his enablers – impunity for their crimes. Please call today if you can. Peace, Jon Rainwater
Executive Director
Peace Action | 
