The U.S. has imposed sanctions against the British prosecutor.
The State of Israel has submitted a petition to the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the removal of the Court's prosecutor Karim Khan from participating in proceedings concerning Israel.
Furthermore, Israel demands that the Court revoke the unfounded arrest warrants issued by the prosecutor against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Galant.
This petition was filed in light of information and reports raising serious concerns that the prosecutor acted based on inappropriate personal motives, making false and unfounded accusations against Israel.
These actions were aimed at distracting public attention from serious allegations of regular sexual harassment against a subordinate. In this context, the prosecutor issued unfounded and outrageous arrest warrants for the Prime Minister and former Minister of Defense of a democratic state.
The State of Israel emphasizes that the prosecutor's actions have caused serious and irreparable harm to the judicial proceedings. In this regard, Israel demands that the Appeals Chamber of the Court remove the prosecutor from participating in cases concerning Israel and declare the arrest warrants issued against the Prime Minister and former Minister of Defense as having no legal force.
The aforementioned petition in no way affects other claims by Israel regarding the invalidity of the warrants, including due to the lack of jurisdiction of the Court.
Karim Asad Ahmad Khan (born March 30, 1970, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British lawyer specializing in international criminal law and international human rights law, serving as the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since June 16, 2021.
Following his appointment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, he served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and acted as Special Advisor and head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS (Daesh) in Iraq (UNITAD), which was established under Security Council resolution 2379 (2017) to support national efforts to hold ISIS accountable for actions that may amount to war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in Iraq. He is under sanctions from the United States of America.
This followed a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump on February 6, 2025, imposing sanctions on ICC officials for issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant in connection with allegations of war crimes in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. presidential directive states that "the ICC has abused its powers by issuing unfounded arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Galant."
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