ICC officials receiving threats over Israeli ministers warrants

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been subjected to repeated threats from various sources, both publicly and privately, as it continues to carry out its mandate across different cases, a spokesperson from the Public Information Unit (PIU) of the ICC told The New Arab.

The comments came a day after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan revealed that the global criminal court's officials had been receiving "personal threats" from supporters of Russia and Israel.

The PIU emphasised that such threats undermine the ICC's independence and impartiality, essential components of its role in upholding justice.

"Without going into detail, the Office has received repeated threats from various sources, made both publicly and privately, in connection with the implementation of its mandate across a number of situations," a spokesperson of the PIU of the ICC told TNA.

"The independence and impartiality of the Office are undermined when individuals threaten to retaliate against the Court or against the Court's personnel," the spokesperson said.

"An attack on the ICC is contrary to the interests of victims of atrocity crimes and has the potential to undermine the core principle at the centre of the Rome Statute and international humanitarian law that these rules apply to all individuals equally," the spokesperson added.

On Monday, Khan told Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun that such threats were coming from supporters of Russia and Israel.

"If we allow these types of attacks…threats…to dismantle or erode the legal institutions that have been built since the Second World War, does anybody believe it will end with the International Criminal Court?" Khan said.

He also urged Japan's cooperation in influencing the United States, which is one of Israel's biggest supporters.

"You cannot allow an attack on the court … then you have no rules-based system. It's better for the country and better for the world, almost invariably, to have the courage to stand on principle rather than standing on expediency," he added, noting that Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC.

In May, Khan had announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders over committing war crimes.

If the warrants are issued, the Israeli officials cannot travel to any of the 124 countries that are members of the ICC, where its rulings are binding.

However, as Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution.

A joint investigation published in May revealed that Israel spied, intimidated, and allegedly threatened lawyers at the ICC to disrupt probes into Israel's purported war crimes.

At the same time, Khan's predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, was threatened by the former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, Yossi Cohen, to drop the court's probe into Israeli war crimes.

The Hague had also issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022 for the 'unlawful deportation' of Ukrainian children.