Republicans move to include ICC sanctions in procedural vote as they prepare to take control of Congress

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

As the all-Republican “trifecta” government prepares to take power in Washington, the party has included a significant challenge to the International Criminal Court inside a procedural package for the new congressional session.

Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday unveiled their rules package proposal for the 119th congressional session, which begins on Friday. It includes a measure that would impose sanctions on the ICC over “any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies” – a presumed reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The measure is seen as Republicans making good on their promises to target the court, which has accused Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Israel-Gaza war.

What led to Netanyahu and Gallant's rift?

02:21

Members of the Donald Trump-aligned wing of the party, the House Freedom Caucus, have been among the few voices to speak out against including ICC sanctions in the procedural rules package, over claims it gives the court too much credibility.

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie declared in a post on X: “Where are our priorities?!” He said: “The United States is a sovereign country, so I don’t assign any credibility to decisions of the International Criminal Court. But how did a bill to protect Netanyahu make it into the House rules package to be voted on immediately after the Speaker vote?”

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene agreed. “I will not support giving any credibility or power to the International Criminal Court in our House rules package. This clause needs to be removed,” she said in her own post.

House Republicans will need to adopt the rules package, which outlines general rules and order of operations for the chamber in the new Congress, before they move on to electing a Speaker of the House on Friday.

The court has accused Mr Netanyahu of using starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against civilians, in addition to crimes against humanity in Gaza, where at least 45,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to local estimates. Israel has been accused of blocking aid, forcing parts of Gaza to the brink of famine, and the war has created the world's largest population of child amputees.

The package also makes it more difficult to remove a speaker – after a tumultuous 118th session that resulted in the removal of former speaker Kevin McCarthy and as current Speaker Mike Johnson faces significant opposition from the House Freedom Caucus, including Mr Massie, as he stood for re-election.

The party already has other motions under way to punish the ICC. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that would issue sanctions against the court, but the Democrat-majority Senate has failed to move the legislation to a final vote.

In the new government, Republicans have control of the Senate, too, and incoming Senate majority leader John Thune has promised the new Republican majority will make ICC sanctions “and other supportive legislation a top priority in the next Congress”.

EJ Kimball, a senior policy adviser with the US Israel Education Association (USIEA), told The National after the arrest warrants were issued that “it is very clear that there will be a response from Congress” once the new US government begins this month.

Elise Baker, a senior staff lawyer for the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Centre and Middle East programmes, told The National at the time that such a reaction makes Washington an outlier on the world stage. “There aren't really other countries that are responding in this way,” she said.

Results

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Rawat Al Reef, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)

5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Noof KB, Richard Mullen, Ernst Oertel

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Seven Skies, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud

6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Jabalini, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami

7pm: UAE Arabian Derby – Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Dergham Athbah, Richard Mullen, Mohamed Daggash

7.30pm: Emirates Championship – Group 1 (PA) Dh1,000,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle

8pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Group 3 (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Irish Freedom, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, Group B
Barcelona v Inter Milan
Camp Nou, Barcelona
Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)

Wicked: For Good

Director: Jon M Chu

Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater

Rating: 4/5

Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier

UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs

Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)

1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0

Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am

Racecard

5pm: Al Maha Stables – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m

5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m

6pm: Emirates Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m

6.30pm: Emirates Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m

7pm: The President’s Cup – Group 1 (PA) Dh2,500,000 (T) 2,200m

7.30pm: The President’s Cup – Listed (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 1,400m

AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street

The seven points are:

Shakhbout bin Sultan Street

Dhafeer Street

Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)

Salama bint Butti Street

Al Dhafra Street

Rabdan Street

Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”