Pressure, telephone tapping, intimidation and even physical threats: To prevent its leaders from finding themselves in the crosshairs of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel has waged a veritable shadow war against this institution over the last ten years. These are the findings of an investigation by the British daily The Guardian and the Israeli news website +972 Magazine, published on Tuesday, May 28, which Le Monde was able to cross-check with its own sources. Replying to the British daily, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office called them "false and unfounded allegations." Contacted by Le Monde, the Israeli embassy in The Hague refused to comment.
While they probably slowed down the action of the Court, which has been dealing with the crimes committed by Israel in the occupied territories since 2015, these underhand tactics failed to dissuade the ICC from looking into the ongoing conflict in Gaza. On May 20, prosecutor Karim Khan asked the judges to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes. On the same charges, similar measures were requested for three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack.
Israel tried to dissuade Khan from taking action until the last minute, using every possible lever, even "personal threats," explained a source at the Court. These maneuvers prompted the prosecutor to issue an unusual protest statement in early May, in which he stated that obstructing the work of the ICC is punishable by five years' imprisonment. "We're not surprised by what's happening," continued the internal source. "This is the method already used with Fatou Bensouda [prosecutor from 2012 to 2021]. There were all kinds of threats against her, even physical threats. People were coming around her house, taking photos."
From the time of the Palestinian Authority's first visits to the Court in 2009, Israeli political and military leaders worried about possible prosecutions. When Palestine became a member of the ICC in April 2015, Israel put in place a strategy aimed at neutralizing any risk of its leaders and soldiers being implicated by Bensouda. According to the Guardian, Yossi Cohen, ex-Mossad director from 2016 to 2021 and an intimate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, personally directed this operation. Cohen did not answer journalists' questions.
Cohen reportedly met prosecutor Bensouda for the first time at the annual Munich Security Forum in 2017. "A strategic meeting that prosecutors always attend. A lot happens in the corridors there," confirmed a former court official. The following year, the Israeli spymaster reportedly turned up at the prosecutor's hotel room in New York, unannounced.
You have 61.13% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.