• Karim Khan, ICC’s top prosecutor was preparing arrest warrants for Israel’s minister of National Security and Israel’s finance minister.
• After forced to go on leave the ICC’s operations have been hampered and prevented any concrete action from being taken.
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor was about to seek arrest warrants for two Israeli cabinet ministers before he went on leave as the United Nations investigates sexual-assault allegations against him along with the imposition on US sanctions, current and former court officials have said.
The cases would have been against Ben Gvir, Israel’s minister for national security along with Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, two far right ministers known for their extreme genocidal rhetoric.
The cases are to do with their roles in expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the officials said.
The political risks such a prosecution could garner are high as under President Trump’s administration, there has been no reluctance to sanction key individuals of the ICC alreadyinvolved in the arrest warrants already handed out for Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and defence minister Gallant.
Some legal experts and officials doubt the court would move ahead without a chief prosecutor in the court according to the World Street Journal.
A new warrant would strain relations with the ICC and the US administration who may decide to hand out more sanctions.
In response to the news Ben Gvir said on X:
“I have one clear message to the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague: no arrest warrant of any kind will deter me from continuing to work for the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. “The prosecutor in The Hague does not scare me, does not threaten me, I will do everything necessary to protect my people - even at the cost of issuing a warrant against me. “When Bhag is against me - I know I am on the right path.”
