Elham Asaad Buaras
The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Chief Prosecutor has said he will not be influenced by “threats or harassment” after a UK-based Israeli lobby group threatened to report the British barrister to the UK Bar Standards Board unless he reconsiders the arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister.
In a letter to ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, three barristers from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which contends that the evidence behind the warrants is false and misleading, claimed that “highly relevant evidence” had emerged since the application to arrest Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defence Minister. They argued that this evidence shows “every allegation… is false.” The UKLFI accused Khan of a “serious lack of integrity” by refusing to reconsider the application in light of the new evidence, suggesting this could breach the bar’s code of conduct.
According to the code of conduct for that board—the oversight body for lawyers in England and Wales—prosecutors are obliged to disclose evidence that may be exculpatory. The UKLFI claims Khan has failed to do so, outlining in their letter what they say is clear evidence that neither Netanyahu nor Gallant violated international law.
In May, Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, along with three high-ranking Hamas members: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif), and Ismail Haniyeh. However, on September 6, the ICC dropped its case against Haniyeh following his assassination by Israel in Iran on July 31.
The charges against the Israeli leaders centre on the use of starvation as a war crime, specifically the “arbitrary” closure of border crossings and the severing of water and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.
Khan emphasised the severe impact of using starvation as a method of warfare, highlighting that its effects, along with other attacks and collective punishment against Gaza’s civilian population, are acute, visible, and corroborated by numerous witnesses.
A pretrial panel of three judges reviews the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants, evaluates the evidence, and decides whether to issue the warrants.
Jonathan Turner KC, Chief Executive of UKLFI and one of three signatories to the letter, said Khan was a practising member of the English bar and was thus regulated by the Bar Standards Board. “This requires him to act and be seen to act with honesty, integrity, and independence, and not to mislead a court or anyone else. If we are not satisfied that he is complying with the code of conduct of the English Bar, we will report our concerns to the Bar Standards Board,” he said.
“This matters to more than just Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant. If the prosecutor can have the court issue arrest warrants on the basis of bogus allegations, no one is safe from the risk of arrest and possibly years of imprisonment in The Hague, even if eventually acquitted.”
ICC prosecutor’s office remains unshaken
In a statement, the Office of the Prosecutor confirmed that UKLFI had been granted permission to submit observations. They emphasised their awareness of their mandate and ethical duties and noted that it was up to UKLFI to determine whether referring the matter to the Board was appropriate while being mindful of their own ethical responsibilities and the obligation not to mislead.
“The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC underlines that it will not be improperly influenced by any form of threat and harassment in pursuing its Rome Statute responsibilities independently and impartially,” it added.
Turner has since said his association had not received a response from Khan and intended to pursue a complaint with the Bar Standards Board. Experts indicate that, although unlikely, if Khan were disbarred, it would not immediately affect his position at the ICC, where bar membership is not a requirement. Decisions regarding misconduct are determined by the Assembly of States Parties, which would need a majority vote from the ICC’s 124 member states to remove Khan from office.
Wider patterns of pro-Israel influence in international justice
The attempts by Israeli lobby groups to influence international justice institutions are part of a broader trend. On May 28, *The Guardian* reported that Yossi Cohen, former chief of Mossad, allegedly threatened Khan’s predecessor to obstruct a 2021 war crimes investigation. A source familiar with Cohen’s activities described his efforts to intimidate and influence Bensouda as involving “despicable tactics,” which ultimately failed. Reports shared with ICC officials suggest that Cohen allegedly told Bensouda, “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”
Cohen’s covert efforts to sway Fatou Bensouda occurred just before she decided to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, according to several anonymous sources.
In a notable move this July, the pretrial chamber agreed to the UK government’s request to determine if the ICC has jurisdiction over Israeli officials. By August, several pro-Israel advocacy groups, including UKLFI, had submitted amici curiae briefs. They argue that the 1993-95 Oslo Accords prevent the court from prosecuting Israeli officials and that the prosecutor must first allow Israel to investigate any alleged crimes under the principle of complementarity. Despite Israel not being a party to the Rome Statute—the treaty that founded the ICC in 2002—Palestine is. Therefore, the court retains the authority to prosecute crimes committed on the territory of a member state.
Photo: ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan. (Credit: WikiCommons)
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