ICC prosecutor Khan reportedly filed arrest warrants against Netanyahu to 'turn nations against Israel' & distract from assault claims

Two separate investigative reports have raised serious questions about ulterior motives for International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan in filing charges against Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant and asking for arrest warrants. 

The reports raise two different issues that could have influenced Khan to pursue arrest warrants before he had gathered sufficient evidence.

The first report was originally published in the Wall Street Journal and alleges that Khan filed the arrest warrants to distract attention from impending rape charges against him, and to garner public support before they were filed.

Khan reportedly became aware that a staff member on his team, a Malaysian lawyer that often travelled with him, was planning to accuse him of several incidents of rape.

She said at first, she was afraid to say anything because she believed in the importance of the job she was doing, working in international law, and she also was paying for cancer treatments for her sick mother. 

“It’s the feeling of being trapped,” she said in her testimony, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

BREAKING: ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan is accused of raping a young Muslim lawyer who worked for him.

The young lawyer, who was anti-Israel, stayed silent after Khan allegedly warned her, “Think about the Palestinian arrest warrants.” Such moral depravation. pic.twitter.com/CNezyX09yb

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) May 11, 2025

After becoming aware of the allegations, which broke at the end of April 2024, Khan reportedly decided to proceed with charges against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, in order to gain the support of anti-Israel nations in the ICC before the allegations became public. 

The female lawyer said that Khan was feeling pressured by those nations to take some action against Israel. 

In early May, shortly after learning of the allegations, Khan announced the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, while also cancelling a planned evidence gathering trip to Israel and Gaza. The move surprised both U.S. and Israeli leaders, who were still in dialogue with Khan’s office, and did not expect the decision to be made so quickly. 

According to the report, the timing of Khan’s announcement of the arrest warrants appears to have been effected by the allegations. The female lawyer testified that Khan himself asked her in a phone conversation not to press charges, as it would negatively effect the arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders. 

He told her the allegations would harm “the justice of the victims that are on the cusp of progress.” 

The U.N., which is in charge of the ICC, said it is investigating the allegations, and is also investigating whether Khan attempted to intimidate or retaliate against the lawyer and those to whom she reported the incidents. 

Khan denied the allegations, telling the WSJ that it is “categorically untrue that he has engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind.” He also claimed that the allegations are part of an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the ICC following the investigations against Netanyahu and Gallant. 

On Monday, another report from the Jerusalem Post added to the intrigue. According to that report, a senior Western diplomat with personal knowledge of the ICC case and investigation alleges that Khan decided to issue the allegations early in an attempt to get Western nations to turn against Israel. 

I can finally reveal my bombshell exclusive after months of work.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan hoped arrest warrants for Netanyahu & Gallant would turn Western nations against Israel — senior Western diplomat tells @Jerusalem_Post

Key revelations from my exclusive report:

• 🎯… pic.twitter.com/No1wlLYxGt

— Jotam Confino (@mrconfino) May 13, 2025

The diplomat said that in a personal conversation, Khan told him, “You just wait and see. If I apply for warrants against Netanyahu, this would give countries like Germany and Canada the excuse they need to turn against the Israeli government.” 

The diplomat told the Post he remembers thinking, “That’s not the job. You should be driven by the law and by facts and evidence, not by the thought that Germany might turn on an elected official.” 

In response, Khan said he notified senior U.S. officials in late March 2024 that he intended to press charges against Netanyahu and Gallant. The diplomat disputed Khan’s timeline, but said that even if true, it would prove that Khan “acted in bad faith,” since it would demonstrate that he pushed for warrants before gathering sufficient evidence. 

“If indeed Khan had made up his mind to apply for warrants in late March, then all of his interactions with both senior Israeli, US, and other officials regarding his visit to Gaza on May 27 would have been under false pretenses,” the diplomat said. 

Khan continued to carry on discussions with Israeli and U.S. officials in April and May of 2024, assuring them that he was still investigating the accusations against the Israeli leaders, and that no decision had been made. 

Arsen Ostrovsky, a human rights lawyer and the CEO of the International Legal Forum, said that Khan “has broken every rule in the book, including the rule of law.” 

Ostrovsky said that “Instead of upholding the court’s mission in the pursuit of justice, the prosecutor has unleashed a great injustice in pursuing these mendacious and baseless warrants, and an unremitting political agenda against Israeli leaders for lawfully defending the country against Hamas and seeking to rescue the remaining hostages.” 

Khan addressed the claims against him in a letter, stating that the allegations against him are “based on false premises” and claiming his decision to issue arrest warrants was not motivated by political or personal matters.