The French newspaper of record, Le Monde published an exposé, detailing a concerted campaign by Israel and the United States to interfere with and undermine the International Criminal Court (ICC), to prevent or annul arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In particular, an effort has been underway to oust the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan, since his announcement in early 2024 that he would seek the indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.
In response to the threat of indictment, Netanyahu vowed in March 2024 to use “all means” to stop Khan. On April 23, 2024, U.K. Foreign Minister David Cameron called Khan to tell him that the pursuit of arrest warrants was “a hydrogen bomb.” He said that the U.K. might withdraw from the ICC if Khan continued.
In May 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, German officials, U.S. Senators, all tried to sway the prosecutor. They claimed that Khan’s legal action would imperil the delicate negotiations for peace (which were not actually occurring).
Another approach was to attack the ICC for not recognizing complementarity, the fact that the ICC is supposed to only take up cases in which national legal remedies can not or will not be applied.
In another bizarre attempt at discrediting Khan, efforts were made to set up a dinner for him in Jerusalem, including Alan Dershowitz and Jeffrey Epstein, at which meal Netanyahu would make a guest appearance. Khan refused the disagreeable invitation, saying that it would be like Oliver Twist: He’d have a sumptuous dinner while Gazans starve.
At the end of April 2024, a new twist developed: An accuser claimed that Khan had engaged in sexual assault.
Undeterred, on May 20, 2024, Khan formally requested that the ICC judges issue arrest warrants. In June, at the G7 meeting, the Germans brought up complementarity, the French said Netanyahu enjoyed immunity, and the British said that the ICC’s actions violated the 1990 Oslo Accords.
In October, an anonymous X account (ICC_Leaks) posted the specific allegations against Khan, which were published by the press.
But on November 21, the judges issues the arrest warrants.
In February 2025, Khan was sanctioned by the United States, in a move applauded by Netanyahu, who called the ICC “anti-Semitic and corrupt.” Four ICC judges were sanctioned by the U.S. in June.
Despite threats, Khan worked on indictments of two other Israeli cabinet ministers: National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
In May 2025, British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman reportedly met with Khan, warning him that if the arrest warrants were not withdrawn, Khan and the Court would be “destroyed.”
