Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been slapped with his unprecedented International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant in order to protect the prosecutor behind this measure against serious sexual assault allegations, new claims suggest.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced the warrant two-and-a-half weeks after learning about the accusations against him. His accuser, a Malaysian lawyer who supported the investigation of Israel’s leaders, says Khan sexually assaulted her several times in several countries.
An explosive report in TheWall Street Journal notes that “the timing of the announcement has spurred questions about whether Khan was aiming to protect himself from the sexual-assault allegations,” adding:
The warrant shored up support for Khan among anti-Israel ICC nations that would likely back Khan if the allegations ever became public, according to court officials.
The warrant also discouraged his accuser for a time from pushing her allegations, officials said, because she strongly supported the investigation of Israeli leaders.
It is alleged that Khan once told his accuser to “think about the Palestinian arrest warrants” in order to stop her from speaking out.
The woman said she continued to work for the ICC—where “abuse allegations were swirling among … staff and others”—because, as the WSJ put it, “she didn’t want to leave one of the most important offices in human-rights law.”
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 11, 2025
Hungary last month began the process to withdraw from the ICC, a move attacked by Brussels but praised by conservative European politicians.
The court has commissioned a review of the allegations facing Khan by the oversight office of the Israeli-critical United Nations, and has not asked him to step aside while the probe is ongoing.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
