Amid rape scandal, ICC weighs dropping Netanyahu arrest warrant

As Hungary votes to leave the International Criminal Court and US sanctions cripple the court’s operations, the ICC signals it may drop arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister and a former Israeli defense minister.

World Israel News Staff

The International Criminal Court is considering withdrawing arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) last year, amid an ongoing sex scandal and pressure from the United States.

At the behest of chief prosecutor Karim Khan, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant last November, for alleged war crimes prosecutors accused the two of committing during the Israeli war against Hamas, following the October 7 invasion of Israel.

The decision drew sharp criticism not only from Israel, which noted that it is not a party to the ICC treaty, but also from the US Congress, then-President-elect Donald Trump, and the Hungarian government.

After taking office, Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC, while the Republican-led Congress voted for its own set of punitive sanctions on the international court.

Combined, the measures have not only barred ICC officials from visiting the US or doing business with American entities, they have severely curtailed the ability of the ICC as a whole to partner with American companies, thus barring its use of American digital archive services and financial institutions.

This has left ICC officials unable to access their work emails and led to the freezing of ICC bank accounts.

In addition, multiple non-governmental organizations have cut their ties with the court in order to avoid being targeted by the American sanctions.

In a further blow to the ICC last Tuesday, the Hungarian parliament voted to pull the country out of the ICC treaty, terminating Budapest’s affiliation with the court.

The move came months after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared last November that his government would not enforce the arrest warrants, inviting Netanyahu to visit Budapest in an open act of defiance against the court.

Amid the pressure, an ICC appeals panel ordered ICC judges to reconsider a petition by Israel to overturn the November, 2024 warrants on the grounds that the ICC has no jurisdiction over non-member states including Israel.

Last year, Israel objected to the ICC’s plans to prosecute Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza, citing in part the argument that the court lacks jurisdiction in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

On April 24, the panel ordered judges to reassess its decision to reject Israel’s initial claim.

On May 9, Israel formally submitted a request to the ICC, challenging not only the November 21, 2024 arrest warrants, but also the ICC investigation into the Gaza war.

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a 10-page brief with the court, calling on judges to reject Israel’s argument, claiming it lacks any “legal basis.”

“In the cases against Netanyahu and Gallant, there is no basis to withdraw or vacate the warrants,” ICC prosecutors argued in the brief.

Earlier this month, however, shortly after Israel filed its May 9 petition, the ICC was engulfed in multiple scandals involving chief prosecutor Karim Khan, the British jurist leading the Gaza war investigation, and the visible advocate in the ICC for Netanyahu’s arrest.

The first scandal revolves around accusations made by a female colleague who claimed Khan sexually harassed for over a year, pressuring her to have sex with him, before groping her multiple times and eventually raping her in December 2023.

The rape, allegedly committed against a female attorney in her 30s from Malaysia, is said to have occurred shortly before Khan pushed the court to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.

The accusation went public months after The Associated Press news agency in October, 2024 reported that two court employees reported Khan’s alleged misconduct – prior to the alleged rape – to court officials last year, after the female attorney in question confided in them.

Days after The Wall Street Journal broke the news of the rape allegation, a Western diplomat told The Jerusalem Post that Khan had admitted to him that the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued on purely political grounds, in order to “turn the West” against Israel.

Following the reports, Khan temporarily stepped down as ICC chief prosecutor, further fueling speculation the court could reverse its decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.