The Israeli regime’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, played an active role in lobbying member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan ahead of a vote that led to his dismissal, according to Israeli media reports.
The reports emerged after two-thirds of ICC member states voted on Friday to remove Khan following months of controversy surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct.
Israeli journalist Guy Azriel, citing an unnamed Israeli official, reported that Saar directed a dedicated task force and led an intensive diplomatic campaign aimed at securing Khan’s removal.
“According to the official, Saar oversaw a dedicated task force and employed intensive diplomatic efforts aimed at securing Khan’s removal,” Azriel wrote in a post on X.
The reported lobbying effort comes against the backdrop of Israel’s longstanding dispute with the ICC. In 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza. Israel has rejected the allegations, claiming the warrants are politically motivated.
Following Khan’s removal, Saar renewed his criticism of the court and called for the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant to be revoked, describing them as “politicized and outrageous.”
ICC member states, however, stressed that the decision to remove Khan was unrelated to the court’s judicial work or ongoing investigations.
In a statement issued after the vote, member states said the proceedings concerning Khan “are not related to the conduct of investigations or proceedings before the court and are without prejudice to the independence of the International Criminal Court.”
Khan, a British barrister, had been accused by a junior ICC staff member in 2024 of coercive sexual misconduct over an extended period. The allegations became public in a televised interview earlier this month. Khan has denied the accusations and previously described the court’s decision to suspend him as “unlawful, procedurally unfair, and unsupported by evidence.”
The controversy has unfolded amid mounting pressure on the ICC from the United States over its investigations into Israeli officials. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on the court and its personnel, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently pledged to “dismantle the ICC brick by brick.”
Israeli media also reported that Khan had been considering additional arrest warrants targeting several senior Israeli ministers and military officials before his removal.
