Only the law, God or history can judge the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's office, as Karim Khan likes to say. As the international community awaits the decision of the Court's three judges on the arrest warrants he requested on May 20 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister and three Hamas political and military leaders, this case will undeniably mark the prosecutor's tenure, whatever the outcome.
To ward off criticism and highlight the challenges of his term, the British prosecutor told the UN Security Council in New York on May 14: "I am fully cognizant that there are Goliaths in this room. There are Goliaths with power, with influence." He was presenting the semi-annual report of the investigation into Libya, launched a few months before the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The meeting is usually an opportunity for diplomats to express their positions on international justice and on the Court in particular.
On that day, Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya criticized the ICC as a "puppet body that openly serves the interests of Western states." The Russian delegate accused the prosecutor of giving in to threats from US lawmakers who, in an open letter, opposed the investigation against Israeli officials. Undeterred, Khan curtly retorted that nothing would stop his office's investigations, not even the "arrest warrants issued by the Russian Federation" against him and several judges in retaliation for the indictment of Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023. In The Hague, the prosecutor was advised in the fall to "swap his Bentley for an armored model," according to a court employee. In recent months, on top of Russian pressure came pressure from Israel. In early May, as he was preparing to indict Netanyahu, Khan warned against any attempt to obstruct justice, an offense punishable by five years' imprisonment.
Attempts to influence the Court, which was set up in 2002 to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression, have happened regularly. Trials are by nature highly sensitive, and states seek to influence investigations. Israel, like the US and Russia, which are not members of the ICC, use the most brutal threats. Created by a treaty adopted in 1998 and signed by 124 states, the Court has rarely shown its authority. The British prosecutor intends to reaffirm the rules of the game. "I warned you," said Khan on May 20, announcing that he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
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