The International Criminal Court’s call to arrest Jerusalem leaders on flimsy war crime allegations will sooner or later come to haunt America. Like Israel, America is not a member of The Hague-based venue and therefore outside its jurisdiction. So why would the Senate majority leader, Charles Schumer, block legislation to sanction the ICC and its officials? The incoming majority leader, John Thune, is now on the case, and not a moment too soon. 

“If the ICC and its prosecutor do not reverse their outrageous and unlawful actions to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials, the Senate should immediately pass sanctions legislation, as the House has already done on a bipartisan basis,” Mr. Thune wrote yesterday. If Mr. Schumer “does not act, the Senate Republican majority will stand with our key ally Israel and make this — and other supportive legislation — a top priority in the next Congress.”

All House Republicans and 42 Democrats voted in June for the sanction legislation that passed by a 247 to 155 majority. President Biden, ever in awe of international bodies, couldn’t hide his displeasure. Mr. Schumer, who calls himself guardian, or “Shomer” of Israel, prevented a Senate follow up. Undeterred, the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, pushed on, demanding to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Mr. Schumer’s refusal to act on the House legislation persisted even after allegations surfaced about Mr. Khan’s own misconduct in office. An internal memorandum even called on him to step down. The ICC at first launched an in-house investigation into an office worker’s complaint that the prosecutor sexually harassed her. The court later ordered an outside probe “to ensure a fully independent, impartial, and fair process.” We will be waiting. 

A British-national, Mr. Khan meanwhile insists that as the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorates, the Israeli leaders must be arrested and haled to The Hague to stand trial. By a logic that seems to undermine the court’s own rules, he argues that Israelis can be prosecuted even though Israel never joined the court. The alleged crimes, goes the argument, were conducted in the territory of an ICC member state, “Palestine,” and therefore are fair game. 

That is the same logic by which the ICC is investigating whether members of America’s armed forces and the CIA committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan in 2003: America is not a member, but Afghanistan is. Or is it? Just like “Palestine,” the Taliban-ruled country’s status as a state is dubious. Its United Nations seat, for one, has long been disputed, claimed both by pre-Taliban officials and the current rulers. 

While the ICC’s structure increasingly looks like a Rube Goldberg contraption, countries around the world, including our Western European allies, heed its calls. Messrs. Netanyahu and Gallant are in peril, as will eventually be our own officials. America could help end the farce. President Trump sanctioned ICC officials, only to be reversed by Mr. Biden. Mr. Thune’s public call for addressing the scandal at The Hague — and our own Senate — is well-timed.