By: Ariella Haviv

In an explosive revelation that further calls into question the impartiality of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a senior Western diplomat with firsthand knowledge of the court’s inner workings told The Jerusalem Post that Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, deliberately issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders to erode Western support for Israel—a move many now see as politically motivated and legally dubious.

The Jerusalem Post exclusive paints a deeply troubling picture of an international prosecutor motivated less by law and evidence than by a desire to generate political pressure, using the ICC’s authority to orchestrate a campaign against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“You just wait and see,” Khan allegedly told the diplomat. “If I apply for warrants against Netanyahu, this would give countries like Germany and Canada the excuse they need to turn against the Israeli government.”

The diplomat, stunned by what he heard, told The Jerusalem Post: “That’s not the job. You should be driven by the law and by facts and evidence, not by the thought that Germany might turn on an elected official.”

According to the information provided in The Jerusalem Post report, Khan insisted his May 20 announcement—during which he told CNN that he would seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant—was the product of a thorough and impartial investigation. In a letter to critics, Khan claimed that during a March 2024 trip to Washington, he informed senior U.S. officials, including then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken and then-National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, of his intent to issue warrants by the end of April.

But the diplomat interviewed by The Jerusalem Post said Khan’s timeline “doesn’t add up.” On March 20—just days before Khan claims he finalized his decision—the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor sent Israel a request for data on evacuation procedures, safe zones, civilian casualties, and humanitarian aid in Gaza, all purportedly part of an ongoing investigation. That information was supposed to be evaluated before any legal determinations were made.

“If he had already made up his mind in March, then everything after that—every request, every meeting, every assurance—was conducted in bad faith,” the diplomat said.

The fallout has been particularly severe in Washington, where key lawmakers now believe Khan intentionally misled the U.S. Senate. According to The Jerusalem Post, Senator Lindsey Graham, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Khan reassured senators during a May 1 call that no decision had been made and that he would “go to Israel and hear their side of the story.”

“The way he conducted this was really outrageous,” Graham told The Jerusalem Post. “He decided to announce the arrest warrants before he heard Israel’s side of the story… the entire conversation he had with all of us was a fraud.”

Graham raised the possibility that Khan either lied to senators or retroactively altered his timeline to distract from allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against him last year, which are currently the subject of an ICC internal probe.

The Jerusalem Post has reported extensively on the activist pressure campaign Khan faced prior to issuing the warrants. In late 2023, the BDS movement and other pro-Palestinian NGOs lambasted him as a “genocide enabler” for refusing to indict Israeli officials, leading many to believe his eventual move was an attempt to rehabilitate his image among far-left activist groups.

In response to critics, Khan insists his motivations were apolitical. Yet his secretive decision-making process and the timing of the warrants—shortly after Israel’s military successfully neutralized Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh—suggest otherwise, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. Notably, once those leaders were confirmed dead, Khan withdrew the corresponding arrest warrants.

Khan’s actions caught the Biden administration off guard, with Blinken stating before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “The decision… on so many levels is totally wrongheaded.”

Blinken emphasized that the ICC move could undermine ceasefire negotiations and hostage release talks, echoing Jerusalem’s longstanding position that lawfare targeting Israel emboldens Hamas and prolongs conflict.

Netanyahu responded with fierce condemnation, telling The Jerusalem Post and other media outlets that the warrants were a “modern-day Dreyfus trial” and part of a larger campaign of antisemitism disguised as international law.

“This decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor trying to save his own skin from the serious charges against him, and by biased judges motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Despite Khan’s attempt to sway international opinion, many key Western allies have refused to recognize or enforce the ICC’s arrest warrants. As The Jerusalem Post reported, Germany, France, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Argentina, and the United States have all stated they will not act on the warrants if Netanyahu or Gallant travel to their territories.

This widespread refusal to comply underscores a growing consensus that Khan’s move was not rooted in legal merit, but in political showmanship.

“Instead of upholding the court’s mission in the pursuit of justice, the prosecutor has unleashed a great injustice,” said Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, in comments to The Jerusalem Post.

“Khan has broken every rule in the book, including the rule of law, by pursuing these mendacious and baseless warrants.”

As The Jerusalem Post continues to investigate and expose the inner workings of the ICC’s controversial campaign against Israeli leaders, the evidence increasingly points to a politically engineered attempt to isolate and delegitimize Israel on the global stage.

Whether Karim Khan acted out of political ambition, activist pressure, or a personal desire to deflect attention from his own misconduct, the consequences are real: a respected international legal body compromised, fragile diplomatic efforts endangered, and the sovereign right of a democratic nation to defend itself under siege.

In the end, as the senior Western diplomat told The Jerusalem Post, “This isn’t justice. It’s lawfare—and it’s playing right into the hands of Israel’s enemies.”