How Karim Khan’s Israel war crimes probe was derailed by threats, leaks and sex claims
Karim Khan, Chief Prosecutor of the ICC (C), announces he is seeking arrest warrants from the court’s judges for PM Benjamin Netanyahu and DM Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, 20 May 2024
David Hearst, Imran Mullaand and Simon Hooper report in Middle East Eye on 1 August 2025:
A major Middle East Eye investigation has uncovered extraordinary details of an intensifying intimidation campaign targeting the British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court over his investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes.
The campaign has involved threats and warnings directed at Karim Khan by prominent figures, close colleagues and family friends briefing against him, fears for the prosecutor’s safety prompted by a Mossad team in The Hague, and media leaks about sexual assault allegations.
It has taken place against the backdrop of Khan’s efforts to build and pursue a case against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials over their conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza and accelerating Israeli settlement expansion and violence against Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Last month, Middle East Eye revealed that Khan was warned in May that if the arrest warrants issued last year for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant were not withdrawn, he and the ICC would be destroyed.
The warning was delivered by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the court, during a meeting with Khan and his wife, Shyamala Alagendra, at a hotel in The Hague.
Kaufman told Khan he had spoken to Netanyahu’s legal advisor and was “authorised” to make him a proposal that would allow Khan to “climb down the tree”, according to a note of the meeting on file at the ICC seen by MEE.
In response to questions from MEE, Kaufman denied threatening Khan. He denied having been authorised to make any proposals on behalf of the Israeli government and said he had shared his personal views with Khan on the Palestine situation.
The meeting came less than two weeks before allegations of sexual assault against Khan, which he has strenuously denied, were first published, and as he was reportedly preparing to seek arrest warrants for more members of the Israeli government.
See also: Le Monde publishes new details of campaign against Karim Khan and ICC