ICC prosecutor alleges US pressure over Gaza investigations

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor expressed concern over pressure the court is facing from the U.S. regarding its investigations into Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

In an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun published on Monday, prosecutor 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.

Khan emphasized that Japan, as the largest funder of the ICC, should leverage its influence to encourage the U.S. to cooperate.

“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.”

“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 May 20, Khan announced that the court was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense 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.

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.