KARIM Khan - the prosecutor who successfully sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in May last year has been 'warned' that he and the ICC would be destroyed if the warrants were not withdrawn.
According to reports in the Middle East Eye (MEE), the warning was delivered in May to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the court linked to a Netanyahu adviser.
According to a note of the meeting on file at the ICC and seen by MEE, Kaufman told Khan to apply to the court to reclassify the warrants and underlying information as “confidential”.
This, it was suggested, would allow Israel to access the details of the allegations, which it could not do at the time, and challenge them in private – without the outcome being made public.
Kaufman told Khan: “They will destroy you, and they will destroy the court.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif in November on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent genocidal war in Gaza. Deif has since been confirmed dead.
Since then, the Israeli defendants are internationally wanted suspects, and ICC member states are under legal obligation to arrest them although several have been wary to agree to it.
Coincidentally, on 16 May 2025, Khan's office stated that he had temporarily stepped aside from his role and was on administrative leave until an investigation by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services concluded.
Khan's deputy prosecutors were placed in charge of managing the Office of the Prosecutor in his absence.
The Malaysian connection
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, Khan, who has been in his role at the ICC since 2021, was accused of forcing himself on a female assistant in a New York hotel room in December 2023.
The assistant, a lawyer from Malaysia in her 30s, alleged Khan further forced her into sexual intercourse against her will while on missions in New York, Colombia, Congo, Chad and Paris, as well as his residence at the Hague.
These allegations surfaced just as he was reportedly preparing to seek arrest warrants for more members of the Israeli government.
Khan has strenuously denied all the allegations against him.
A smear campaign against Khan?
Officials at the ICC also claim the allegations may be part of a smear campaign by Israeli intelligence.
The Guardian previously reported that Khan's precursor, Fatou Bensouda, was threatened by the Mossad director Yossi Cohen in an attempt to dissuade her from opening war crime inquiries against Israel.
The New York Times reported an anonymous account on X called @ICC_Leaks, revealed the allegations and has been allegedly promoting a campaign against Khan and the ICC.
It added that after announcing the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, Khan hinted that external forces were attempting to influence the investigation.
Sources at the ICC say the results of the investigation into the allegations could determine the future of the ICC. – July 23, 2025
