By : Sen. Lindsey Graham is demanding answers on reporting that British International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan was accused of misconduct at the same time he was pursuing criminal charges against Israeli officials.
‘Public reports indicate that allegations of harassment surfaced in early May – just a few days before Prosecutor Khan applied for arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel for alleged violations of law during the defensive Israeli-Hamas War,’ Graham, R-S.C., wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
‘The timing of the allegations is troubling, and only compounds the other strong legal, jurisdictional, and prudential objections I have expressed regarding the Prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants.’
On May 20, Khan requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif. All three Hamas leaders have been killed in the past year.
Khan’s application was unprecedented – the first time the criminal court had sought arrests for Western-allied officials.
Graham said that prior to Khan’s warrants, he along with a group of senators was working to urge Khan to ‘adhere to the Rome Statute’ and have a dialogue with Israeli officials before moving forward with their prosecution.
On May 20, Khan was set to travel to Israel to meet with officials before deciding whether to move forward with the warrant requests.
But he never showed up.
He publicly announced his warrant requests without any warning to the Israelis who had planned to make their case against them, according to Graham.
‘It has now come to my attention through media reports that Prosecutor Khan was facing allegations of misconduct around the same time, and the resolution of this matter remains a mystery,’ the senator wrote in the letter.
‘The abrupt decision to cancel this visit to Israel, along with these contemporaneous allegations needs to be explained, and I request full transparency on the matter to ensure there is no conflict of interest.’
Graham said he was ‘shocked’ to learn Khan never showed up for his trip to Israel.
‘It was a complete change of what we were told that was going to happen, and we never really understood what happened – never made sense to me.’
But last week, the Mail on Sunday reported that around the same time, a female employee with the court informed senior managers about harassment claims made by another female employee against Khan. The woman ‘was so upset she was in tears.’
The Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM), which probes misconduct allegations by ICC employees, reportedly questioned the alleged victim, but she decided not to make a formal complaint. The IOM did not launch a formal investigation and recommended measures intended to ‘safeguard everyone’s rights.’
‘I’ve never understood what led to such a change in position. So my concern is, did these two events have anything to do with each other?’ Graham questioned.
‘We need transparency here. You know, is it a coincidence the guy is being accused of inappropriate conduct, and again, I have no idea if it’s legitimate or not, but just weeks later, there’s a change of course here.’
An annual report released by the IOM on Friday said that on May 3, the watchdog had been told about allegations that an elected official engaged in behavior that would breach the court’s harassment rules. It confirmed the woman ‘declined to pursue a formal complaint.’ She refused to explicitly confirm or deny to the IOM the allegations that had been reported by a third party.
When asked for comment on the letter, the ICC prosecutor’s office referred Fox News Digital to comments Khan made to the Mail on Sunday: ‘I absolutely can confirm there is no truth to suggestions of misconduct.’
‘This is a moment in which myself and the International Criminal Court are subject to a wide range of attacks and threats. In recent months my family including my wife and child have also been targeted,’ Khan added.
He said he would cooperate with the IOM if asked to do so. ‘I underline that I stand with any victim of sexual harassment or abuse and would encourage all survivors to raise their voice and come forward with such accounts wherever they may occur. I have always been supportive of a proactive approach in this regard.’
The court’s panel of judges has not yet issued the warrants. It took them only three weeks to issue the warrant for President Vladimir Putin’s arrest after Khan requested it following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute that founded the ICC 22 years ago and do not recognize its jurisdiction. Palestinians were granted membership in 2015.
Since the court’s establishment in 2002, it has issued 55 arrest warrants in 32 cases. Twenty-one people have been detained and tried at The Hague while 26 remain at-large.
Israel is also facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in a case brought forth by South Africa.
Despite the ICC prosecutor’s arrest warrant requests, Graham insisted that the international law body does hold an important role.
‘There’s a place for the ICC. I mean, like Putin’s collapsed every legal system in Russia, truly is a despot.’
Graham added: ‘But bringing charges against the defense minister and the prime minister of Israel in the middle of a war for the survival of the Jewish people without even talking to them, canceling a meeting, just doesn’t pass the smell test. I want to know what the hell happened.’
This file has been updated to include the ICC prosecutor’s office’s comments.