Israel: ICC Chief Prosecutor Filed War Crimes Warrant to Divert Attention from Sexual Assault Charges Against Him

Tuesday, 13 May 2025 | Israel has petitioned judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to cancel the arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing explosive allegations of sexual misconduct against ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. 

Documents published on the ICC’s official website show that Israel asked the court to order the suspension of the ongoing investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories. The request, dated May 9, was signed by Deputy Attorney General Gilad Noam. 

Israeli officials believe Khan advanced the arrest warrant process to divert attention from a serious sexual assault complaint filed against him. 

“There’s a sense here that he was caught,” one Israeli official said. “This is dynamite that could impact the entire case.” 

Sources familiar with the details alleged that Khan used an advisory opinion from a so-called secular legal forum—an entity that does not formally exist within the ICC—to pressure the court’s judges into approving the warrants. 

According to a detailed report in the Wall Street Journal, a Malaysian lawyer in her 30s who worked closely with Khan and traveled with him on official trips, alleged that he assaulted her repeatedly over several months. She claimed the first assault took place at the Millennium Hilton hotel in New York, near the UN headquarters, after he invited her to his suite under the pretext of calming tensions following an outburst at work. She said Khan sexually assaulted her that night, and the pattern continued during subsequent trips to Colombia, Kinshasa, Chad, Paris and the Hague. 

The lawyer had worked at the ICC for six years before joining Khan’s team in 2023. She said the harassment began in March 2023 during a business trip to London, when Khan allegedly tried to hold her hand.