Israel demands lifting of arrest warrant against Netanyahu

Following the suspension of the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Israel's UN ambassador is calling for the arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be lifted.

Karim Khan's suspension proves "that this institution is rotten to the core", wrote UN Ambassador Danny Danon on X. "Now is the time to lift the outrageous arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu!"

Khan's suspension came against the backdrop of allegations of sexual assault against a close associate. The chief prosecutor has been temporarily suspended for over a year and wanted to return once the allegations had been clarified. He denies all allegations.

Arrest warrant against Netanyahu

Khan had been chief prosecutor since 2021 and had issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war, among other things.

Israel has repeatedly been accused of war crimes, including genocide, for its harsh actions in the two-year Gaza war, in which tens of thousands of people were killed. The Israeli government strictly rejects these accusations. It describes the war as part of a broader conflict with Iran and its regional allies, who were seeking to destroy the Jewish state.

The US increased its pressure on the court and imposed sanctions on employees and judges, primarily because of the arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

Sharp criticism from pro-Israeli circles

Pro-Israeli lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky wrote in an X-Post that Khan's suspension "raises further profound questions about the integrity of his tenure - including his feud against Israel and the baseless war crimes allegations he pursued, which must now be dropped entirely". 125 states have signed the basic treaty of the Criminal Court, including all EU states. The USA, Russia and Israel are not members of the court.