International Court Prosecutor raises alarm over 'threats', US pressure on Israel probe

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor has expressed concern over pressure the Court is facing from the US regarding its investigations into Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

In an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun published on Monday, Karim Khan disclosed that ICC officials were receiving personal “threats” from supporters of Russia and Israel.

“If we allow these types of attacks … threats … to dismantle or erode the legal institutions that have been built since the Second World War, does anybody believe it will end with the International Criminal Court?” warned Khan.

Noting that Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC, Khan urged Japan’s cooperation in influencing the US.

“You cannot allow an attack on the Court … then you have no rules-based system,” said Khan, adding: “It’s better for the country and better for the world, almost invariably, to have the courage to stand on principle rather than standing on expediency.”

READ: ICC Prosecutor urges judges to urgently rule on warrants for Israeli, Hamas officials

“Our responsibility is to use our resources effectively to investigate incriminating and exonerating evidence equally until such time as we feel that the major criminal allegations have been thoroughly investigated,” Khan said.

On 20 May, Khan announced that the Court was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of committing war crimes.

If arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant would be unable to travel to any of the 124 member countries of the ICC, where its rulings are binding.

At Khan’s request, The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President, Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine following the launch of the “special military operation” in February 2022.

Russia denies the allegations, insisting that children were evacuated from the battle zone to save their lives, and that the warrant is not applicable as the country is not an ICC member state.

Threats and pressure on the ICC are not new.

Earlier, Yossi Cohen, former head of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, and Netanyahu’s “unofficial messenger”, had threatened Fatou Bensouda, former chief prosecutor of the ICC.

The ICC case goes back to 2015, when Bensouda began a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine, assessing allegations of crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

READ: Pro-Israel group threatens ICC prosecutor with legal action if he seeks arrest warrants for Israel officials