Above photo: International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. File photo.
To Thwart Gaza War Crimes Probe.
An investigative report has uncovered an intensifying intimidation campaign targeting British ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, revealing extraordinary details of threats and warnings aimed at forcing him to drop the probe into Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The report published by the Middle East Eye (MEE) on Friday revealed that Khan has been warned to withdraw arrest warrants for the Israeli regime’s leadership over the occupying entity’s genocidal war crimes in Gaza, or he and the top tribunal would be “destroyed.”
According to the report, the warning was delivered in May to Khan by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defense lawyer linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s adviser, during a meeting with Khan and his wife, Shyamala Alagendra, at a hotel in The Hague.
Kaufman said the Israeli premier’s legal adviser told him he was “authorized” to make Khan a proposal that would allow Khan to “climb down the tree,” after the ICC’s chief prosecutor issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former military affairs minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of genocidal war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war in November 2024.
Kaufman told Khan to apply to the court to reclassify the warrants and underlying information as “confidential,” warning against any attempts to apply for more arrest warrants for Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over their promotion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Kaufman warned Khan at the meeting that if the warrants against Netanyahu or Gallant were not withdrawn, “they will destroy you and they will destroy the court.”
Khan and his wife both confirmed after they met with Kaufman at the hotel in The Hague that, “That was a clear threat,” according to the report by MEE.
The meeting came less than two weeks before allegations of sexual assault against Khan, which he has strenuously rejected, were first published.
He was reportedly preparing to seek arrest warrants for more members of Netanyahu’s cabinet at the time.
The woman accusing Khan of sexual misconduct wrote in May 2024 in text messages to Khan that there were “games being played” and attempts to make her a “pawn in some game I don’t want to play.”
The MEE report said two internal ICC investigations into the allegations were closed after the woman refused to cooperate with them, adding, “Investigators found no wrongdoing on the part of the individual who was the subject of her complaint.”
Apart from death threats and unfounded sexual allegations, Khan has since February been sanctioned by the US government, which, like Israel, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC over the arrest warrants issued against Netanyahu and Gallant.
Last month, the US imposed further sanctions against four judges at the top court, which it accuses of “illegitimate actions” targeting the US and Israel.
A senior State Department legal advisor warned the court’s oversight body that “all options are on the table” if the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant are not dropped.
ICC judges rejected on July 16 a request from Israel for the warrants to be withdrawn pending the outcome of the court’s ruling on an ongoing Israeli appeal challenging its jurisdiction in the case.
A source in The Hague, with knowledge of the matter and speaking on condition of anonymity, told MEE, “This has been an attempt not just to destroy Karim Khan but the International Criminal Court–by countries that claim to support the international rule of law.”
The source added that Khan had done everything “by the book” in applying for the warrants.
Since the issuance of arrest warrants, the Israeli defendants are internationally wanted suspects, and ICC member states are under a legal obligation to arrest them, although several have been wary to agree to it.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, hit out this month against countries that have allowed Netanyahu to fly over their airspace en route to the United States, suggesting that they may have flouted their obligations under international law.
Albanese said the governments of Italy, France and Greece needed to explain why they provided “safe passage” to Netanyahu, who they were theoretically “obligated to arrest” as an internationally wanted suspect when he flew over their territory on his way to meet US President Donald Trump for talks.
The Italian legal scholar and internationally respected human rights advocate, who has consistently exposed Israel’s systemic crimes against Palestinians, was herself placed under US sanctions over her stance on the illegal regime last month.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Albanese for what he termed “illegitimate efforts” to prompt international prosecution of US and Israeli officials at the ICC over their war crimes in Gaza.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7, 2023, has so far resulted in more than 60,000 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 146,000 others injured.
Thousands of victims are feared trapped under rubble, inaccessible to emergency and civil defense teams due to Israeli attacks.
Israel’s genocidal attacks continue unabated despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
