My Take | How a clandestine campaign undercut ICC’s case against Israel
Newspaper exposes how the court’s chief prosecutor was sabotaged and discredited as he tried to pursue a war crime case against Israeli leaders
International human rights lawyers and prosecutors are supposed to go after enemies of the West. Though unwritten, their job is understood to uphold double, not universal, standards. Unfortunately, some braver ones sometimes forget their place.
When powerful Western leaders or their friends are investigated for things like war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing, things won’t go well at The Hague.
Recent news reports have exposed a clandestine campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its chief prosecutor Karim Khan, well before he issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant last November.
But a new investigation by Le Monde, France’s equivalent of The New York Times, reveals hitherto unknown details, exposing far greater ruthlessness.
As Khan tried to build a case against Netanyahu, Gallant and other extremist officials within the Israeli government, the campaign against him intensified. Suddenly, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, leading to an ongoing United Nations and ICC probe against him. Khan went on indefinite leave in May after a failed attempt to suspend him, engineered by a senior member of his own office.
From early on, Le Monde reported that a staff member from Khan’s office tasked with liaising with Israel on the Palestine investigation had tried to sabotage Khan’s pursuit of Netanyahu and Gallant, and to discredit Khan. He was also supposed to be a Khan family friend.
The person allegedly secretly referred sexual harassment allegations against Khan to investigators and leaked the allegations to the press. He approached the ICC presidency to try to suspend Khan but failed.