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By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
According to an exclusive Reuters report, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan canceled a “fact-finding” mission in Gaza at the last minute and instead decided to expedite his request for arrest warrants for Israeli officials without collecting evidence.
This move blindsided members of Khan’s own staff and angered US and UK officials, with the latter threatening to cut funds to the ICC.
On May 20, Karim Khan requested from the ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as all three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh for alleged war crimes.
Four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Khan was supposed to have gone to Gaza to gather on-site evidence and ask those accused to make their case before requesting arrest warrants.
Officials in Washington and London had insisted that he make the trip before requesting the warrants and added that Israel is not under the jurisdiction of the ICC and the warrants would not likely stop the war in Gaza.
When Khan canceled the trip and proceeded with the warrants, he justified the move by claiming he had enough evidence to build a case and he needed to rush the warrant request through to prevent further “crimes” from taking place in Gaza.
Khan, who had been trying to improve his relationship with the US, severely harmed his standing with Washington after the cancellation of his trip to Gaza and his haste in requesting the warrants.
The US State Department said canceling his trip to Gaza before requesting the warrants broke with the ICC prosecution’s standard practice of seeking engagement of those under investigation and gathering on-site evidence.
When Khan canceled his plane tickets within hours of takeoff, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the move “profoundly wrong-headed.”
Another US official lamented, “We worked hard to build a relationship (with the ICC) of no surprises.”
UK Foreign Minister David Cameron told parliament that Khan’s move was mistaken, and privately, he called it “crazy.”
During a phone call, Cameron threatened to cancel participating and funding for the ICC.
