ICC prosecutor facing scrutiny from Capitol Hill amid sexual misconduct allegations
Karim Khan is accused of sexually harassing a female colleague for over a year
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Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, is facing scrutiny from pro-Israel lawmakers on Capitol Hill over newly revealed sexual misconduct allegations.
Khan in May set in motion an effort to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. While Israel isn’t a part of the ICC, making it possible to flout their rulings, the warrants would make it impossible for Netanyahu or Gallant to travel to any country in compliance with the court.
Khan is accused of sexually harassing a female colleague for over a year, allegedly trying to coerce her into a sexual relationship and groping her against her will. The woman, who was interviewed by the ICC’s independent watchdog after two colleagues she confided in reported the alleged misconduct, declined to file a complaint during that interview. In the weeks that followed, an Associated Press report states that the accuser “decided to go up the chain of command, reaching out to the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the court and has the ultimate say about Khan’s future.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Jewish Insider on Monday that the allegations against Khan have “put a cloud over” the court’s proceedings against Netanyahu and others.
Graham made the comments on the sidelines of a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), the state’s Republican Senate candidate. The South Carolina senator explained that he has been confused about how Khan came to the decision to try to move forward with the warrants, and is now seeking answers from the court directly.
“I wrote a letter to the governing body of the ICC asking for information about the investigation. Was it an honest investigation? Was the person who made the allegations intimidated? He was supposed to come to Israel on May the 20th. I had a phone call with 10 senators – five Republicans, five Democrats – urging him to hear Israel’s side of the story, to invoke complementarity, which is a legal concept under the Rome Statute,” Graham said, referring to the treaty that established the ICC. “The people in Israel were at the airport to meet him. At the last minute, he canceled his flight and he filed the [request for an] arrest warrant. So I’ve always wondered what the heck happened.”
Under the ICC’s complementarity principle, it is supposed to respect local laws and courts unless they are unwilling or unable to prosecute offenses.
“I don’t know if the allegations are true, I just know this: there’s a lot of intrigue around what happened,” Graham continued. “Apparently, this lady came forward in early May. So I think I want to know, how was it handled? Is there any there there? Apparently, some kind of internal report said that the ICC was a very unhealthy place to work. So the question is: Did this have anything to do with this decision to issue arrest warrants, I thought, arbitrarily and without any input from Israel? Was he trying to change the subject? I don’t know, but I’ve written to the governing body, and I expect an answer.”
Graham sent a letter last week to Päivi Kaukoranta, the president of the Assembly of States Parties, which has jurisdiction over the ICC, asking for a status update on the situation and an explanation for the timing of the warrants in light of the new allegations.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said that the allegations merited Khan’s removal from his role.
“The allegation of sexual misconduct confirms what we have long known: that a politicized prosecutor like Karim Khan has as much integrity as a politicized ICC — which is to say none at all. A man who breaks the law cannot be trusted to enforce the law. Karim Khan must resign from his position or be removed,” Torres told JI in a statement.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) told JI, “I was dumbfounded by the outrageous actions taken by Mr. Kahn. The only logical explanation is that he was trying to distract from his own brewing scandal.”
The woman, whom Khan had transferred to his office, has asked the matter to be investigated by the ASP. Khan has denied the allegations, which privately emerged as he introduced his controversial arrest warrants against Netanyahu and others in the war cabinet.
This story was updated with additional lawmaker reactions