Allegations of sexual harassment against ICC prosecutor cloud anti-Israel proceedings

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that sexual assault allegations against Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, have “overshadowed” the trial against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. .

In May, Khan ordered the arrest of Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Although Israel is not part of the ICC, allowing its decisions to be ignored, the warrants prevent Netanyahu or Gallanta from traveling to any country as determined by the court.

Khan is accused of sexually harassing a female colleague for more than a year, allegedly attempting to force her into sexual relations and groping her against her will. A woman who was interviewed by an ICC independent monitor after two colleagues she confided in reported alleged misconduct refused to make a complaint during that interview.

Graham made the comments while speaking to Jewish Insider on the sidelines of a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in support of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the Republican Senate candidate. The South Carolina senator explained that he does not understand how Hahn came to the decision to issue the warrants and is now seeking answers directly from the court.

“I wrote a letter to the governing body of the ICC asking for information about the investigation. Was this a fair investigation? Was the person who made the accusations intimidated? He was supposed to arrive in Israel on May 20. I had a telephone conversation with 10 senators – five Republicans and five Democrats – and I urged him to listen to the Israeli point of view, to invoke complementarity, which is a legal concept under the Rome Statute,” Graham said, referring to the treaty establishing the ICC. “People in Israel were at the airport to meet him. At the last minute, he canceled his flight and filed an arrest warrant. So I always wondered what the hell happened.”

“I don’t know if these allegations are true, all I know is that there is a lot of intrigue around what happened,” Graham continued. “Apparently, this lady spoke at the beginning of May. So I guess I want to know how this was handled? Is there anyone there? Apparently some internal report said that the ICC was a very unhealthy place to work. So the question is, does this have anything to do with the decision to issue arrest warrants, as I thought, arbitrarily and without any involvement from Israel? Was he trying to change the subject? I don’t know, but I wrote to management and am waiting for a response.”

In the following weeks Associated Press The report said the prosecutor “decided to rise through the ranks by appealing to the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the trial and has the final say on Khan’s future.”

The woman, whom Khan transferred to his office, asked for the matter to be investigated by the Assembly of States Parties. Khan has denied the allegations, which arose privately when he submitted controversial arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other members of the military cabinet.