THE International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor has staunchly defended his decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials over war crimes in Gaza, revealing he faced cautions from multiple world leaders regarding this move.
Karim Khan disclosed that several countries and authorities had warned him that arrest warrants for Israeli officials would be tantamount to an ‘atomic bomb’. In an interview with the BBC, partially published on their website Thursday, Khan stated,: ‘Several leaders and others told me and advised me and cautioned me’.
The prosecutor elaborated that he had been pressured by some world leaders to refrain from issuing warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Military Affairs Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In May, Khan proceeded to issue the warrants, citing ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The pair are suspected of crimes including the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination. However, ICC judges must yet approve the request for the warrants.
Khan emphasised the necessity of demonstrating that all parties would be held to the same standard concerning war crimes. He asserted: ‘You can’t have one approach for countries where there’s support, whether it’s NATO support, European support (and) powerful countries behind you, and a different approach where you have clear jurisdiction.’
The chief prosecutor further expounded: ‘We need to apply the law in a way that is equal, because if we don’t, and importantly if we’re not seen to, we’re going to lose all the architecture, not just the ICC, that has been built on human suffering since Nuremberg.’
When questioned whether his decision to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli officials was politically motivated rather than legally grounded, Khan responded: ‘What we’re doing is the antithesis of politics, it’s about the equal application of the law irrespective of whether one receives a round of applause from some quarters or a deafening din of condemnation from the other.’
Khan vehemently rejected accusations of anti-Semitism levelled at him by Netanyahu, stating: ‘There’s not an ounce, not a jot, not a scintilla of truth in the charge.’ He further asserted: ‘Our job is to apply the law and not to be dissuaded by these cheap shots or criticisms that manifestly are false.’
Israel launched its brutal onslaught on Gaza on 7 October 2023, following a surprise operation by the Hamas resistance group against the Zionist entity, carried out in retaliation for intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people. To date, the occupying regime has killed at least 40,878 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, and injured 94,454 others.
