Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Photo: Reuters, GPO)
The ongoing efforts to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders are a smokescreen for the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan’s sex scandal, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday.
The WSJ report argued that Khan’s focus on the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is an attempt to divert attention from the sexual misconduct allegations against him.
In late May, the ICC prosecutor Khan publicly announced his intention to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged “war crimes” in Gaza. Khan also announced that he would seek warrants for two Hamas leaders who have since been eliminated by Israeli Defense Forces: Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
Khan (54) was accused of sexually harassing one of his female employees earlier this year. The victim has accused him of non-consensual behavior including touching her sexually, locking her in his office and placing his hand in her pocket.
The unnamed whistleblower stated, “The P[rosecutor] appeared stunned to hear this, and conveyed confusion about what was transpiring. He commented that he is ‘finished and will need to resign.’”
However, Khan did not resign and instead reportedly threatened both the victim and the witnesses, denying the sexual misconduct allegations as a “smear campaign” aimed at undermining his efforts to issue warrants against the Israeli leaders for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
“I absolutely can confirm there is no truth to suggestions of misconduct,” Khan claimed. However, the WSJ report has called for an internal investigation of Khan’s conduct before ICC judges would issue the warrants he has requested.
The ICC’s Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM) acknowledged the misconduct incident. While the IOM report did not specifically name Khan, it stated that the alleged victim “declined to pursue a formal complaint with the IOM, including when it was suggested that any investigation could be referred to an external entity.”
The female victim “refused to explicitly confirm or deny to the IOM the factual basis of what had been reported by the third party to the IOM. Accordingly, the IOM determined that no investigation was necessary at this stage,” according to the report.
In his response to Khan’s decision to seek warrants, Netanyahu emphasized that the Jewish state is fighting a just war of self-defense against the terrorist organization Hamas and other terror proxies supported by the Iranian regime.
Netanyahu rejected the accusation that Israel seeks harm to Gazan civilians and blasted Khan for creating a moral equivalence between Israeli forces and Hamas.
“Now, in the face of these horrors, Mr. Khan creates a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas. This is like creating a moral equivalence after September 11th between President Bush and Osama Bin Laden, or during World War II between FDR and Hitler,” Netanyahu stated .
“The prosecutor’s absurd charges against me and Israel’s defense minister are merely an attempt to deny Israel the basic right of self-defense. And I assure you of one thing: This attempt will utterly fail.”