This bill would prohibit United States officials from cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and would bar U.S. funding for the ICC. It also forbids using the Economic Support Fund to support the Palestinian Authority and blocks any Federal funds from being used for ICC activities.
The prohibitions are tied to the bill’s findings about ICC actions in Palestine, including investigations and arrest warrants issued in 2024. The measure relies on an existing appropriation framework to justify withholding PA-related ESF, and it directs agencies to align funding decisions with this prohibition.
At a Glance
What It Does
The act prohibits U.S. cooperation with the ICC, bars ESF funding for the Palestinian Authority, and bans Federal funding for the ICC or its activities.
Who It Affects
ICC personnel and operations; the Palestinian Authority and its Gaza operations; U.S. foreign assistance programs (e.g., State Department and USAID) that fund PA activities or ICC-related programs; allied and partner governments considering ICC actions.
Why It Matters
It sets a unilateral constraint on ICC engagement and on U.S. funding flows tied to ICC activities and PA support, signaling a strategic shift in how the United States interacts with the Court and with Palestinian governance.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The Stop the ICC Act would institute three core prohibitions. First, no U.S. official may cooperate with the International Criminal Court on any matter.
Second, the act would prohibit using Economic Support Funds to support the Palestinian Authority, including activities tied to Gaza, and would block any Federal funding that would support the ICC or ICC-related actions such as investigations, warrants, or prosecutions. These prohibitions are anchored to the bill’s findings about ICC actions in Palestine and are connected to a provision of the 2024 appropriations law that restricts ESF in certain contexts.
The bill thus coordinates funding controls with a broader stance on ICC engagement, limiting the United States’ direct participation in ICC processes while also constraining aid that could enable Palestinian Authority involvement with the Court.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill disallows U.S. officials from cooperating with the ICC on any matter.
The act forbids using Economic Support Fund money to support the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza.
Federal funds may not be made available to the ICC or used for any ICC activity, including investigations or prosecutions.
The prohibition cites and relies on the 2024 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, linking ESF restrictions to ICC-related conditions.
Findings in Section 2 describe ICC actions in Palestine and related arrest warrants for Israeli officials as justification for the prohibitions.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Short title
This section provides the act’s official name: the Stop the ICC Act. It designates the title used in all formal references to the measure.
Findings
Section 2 lays out congressional findings about the ICC’s activities in Palestine, including prior ESF restrictions and the ICC’s investigations and arrest warrants. The findings frame the rationale for limiting U.S. cooperation and funding to the ICC and for restricting ESF assistance to the Palestinian Authority.
Prohibition against cooperation with the ICC
This subsection prohibits any U.S. official from cooperating with the International Criminal Court on any matter. It establishes a clear administrative boundary between U.S. government actions and ICC processes, reducing the United States’ formal engagement with ICC investigations or proceedings.
Fulfillment of statutory condition
This subsection ties the PA ESF restriction to the ICC investigations described in Section 2, and to the ICC warrants against Israeli officials, as a statutory basis for prohibiting ESF use consistent with the referenced 2024 appropriations provisions.
Prohibition against use of ESF in Gaza
None of the funds available under the Foreign Assistance Act may be used to provide support for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, directly limiting U.S. humanitarian and governance-related assistance in that context.
Prohibition against funding for the ICC
No Federal funds may be made available to the ICC or used to support any ICC activity, including submissions of alleged crimes, investigations, warrants, surrender or transfer of accused persons, prosecutions, trials, appeals, or enforcement of ICC rulings. The section enumerates the scope of prohibited ICC-related spending.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Foreign Affairs across all five countries.
Explore Foreign Affairs in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who are named in the findings and are among the officials shielded from ICC actions by the prohibition on cooperation.
- The State of Israel and its government, which gain a framework to limit ICC engagement related to Palestine investigations and related U.S. funding.
- U.S. policymakers in Congress who favor restricting ICC involvement and wielding control over foreign assistance to align with this policy.
- U.S. foreign policy caucus members and allied policymakers who advocate a tougher stance toward ICC jurisdiction in Middle East matters.
Who Bears the Cost
- The International Criminal Court and its prosecutors, which lose U.S. cooperation and funding for ICC activities.
- The Palestinian Authority and Gaza-related governance and services that rely on Economic Support Fund assistance.
- U.S. agencies and contractors administering foreign assistance and compliance programs, which must implement and enforce the new prohibitions.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is whether unilateral U.S. restrictions on ICC cooperation and funding can meaningfully deter ICC actions while preserving effective accountability and humanitarian support in the region, without creating broader diplomatic or legal frictions.
The bill creates a sweeping constraint on U.S. engagement with the ICC and on assistance to the Palestinian Authority, but it raises questions about implementation and compatibility with international expectations about accountability for crimes. Enforcement will depend on agencies’ ability to track ICC activities and to ensure ESF and other federal funds are not used to support ICC-related processes or PA governance in Gaza.
The measures also raise potential tensions with allies who support ICC mechanisms as a tool for accountability, and with partners who rely on U.S. funding for Palestinian governance.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.