Ex-ICC prosecutor says UK threatened to defund court over Netanyahu arrest warrant |
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has alleged that an official from the previous UK government threatened to defund the ICC and leave the Rome Statute if the court pressed ahead with arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Karim Khan, who has been placed on leave pending an investigation into sexual abuse allegations that he denies, made the allegation in a submission to the ICC defending his decision to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, The Guardian reported Thursday.
He did not identify the British official who issued the threats, but said they came during an April 2024 phone call.
The Guardian speculated that reports suggested the UK official was then-foreign secretary David Cameron, a former British prime minister.
According to the report, Khan said the British official argued during the call that issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant would be disproportionate, and warned that London could respond by withdrawing funding from the court and exiting the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
In his submission, Khan also alleged pressure from Washington. He said a US official cautioned him in April 2024 that there would be what The Guardian called........