Top International Prosecutor Acknowledges Shortage of Evidence To Charge Israelis With Genocide

Pressured by an activist interviewer, the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, says that at least for now no evidence supports accusations that Israeli officials are guilty of “genocide.” In a rare interview with the prosecutor, a journalist-activist, Mehdi Hasan, argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are guilty of more dire crimes than the ones that underlined the ICC’s November 2024 global arrest warrants against them, issued on Mr. Khan’s recommendation. The Rome Statute that established the ICC authorized it to adjudicate “the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.” In the interview, Mr. Hasan repeatedly asked why Mr. Khan charged the Israelis with two of these, but not “genocide.”Separately, South Africa is pressing allegations at another Hague venue, the United Nations-affiliated International Court of Justice, claiming that Israel is committing genocide. Mr. Khan, though, tells Mr. Hasan that it would be “reckless” for a prosecutor to charge “genocide” based on public “clamor” rather than on solid evidence. In May 2022 Mr. Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he would seek arrest warrants against the Israeli officials. A day earlier, the prosecutor had abruptly canceled a visit to Israel to complete an investigation in the case. The bombshell television interview coincided with allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Khan.“When you submitted the application for arrest warrants, you recommended charging Netanyahu and Gallant with war crimes and crimes against humanity — big charges, big crimes — but not genocide,” Mr. Hasan demanded in his interview with Mr. Khan. “Why did you give Netanyahu a pass on what pretty much every expert now says is a genocide in Gaza?”Mr. Khan appeared defensive. “Mehdi, nobody’s got a pass,” he said. “The law applies for all. There’s no statute of limitations for war crimes or international crimes. That’s one of the Nuremberg principles.” Are charges of genocide coming, then? “Everything is a function of evidence,” Mr. Khan said. “You say in the past few days there hasn’t been evidence of genocide?” Mr. Hasan pressed on. “It would be a reckless prosecutor to move simply because of clamor,” Mr. Khan retorted. “You move based upon evidence.” Yet he stressed that there are “ongoing investigations and applications — and more than that I simply can’t say.” Suffering in Gaza is “immense,” the prosecutor added, in an apparent nod to Mr. Hasan. Mr. Khan did not address the suffering of the female underling who had filed an internal complaint accusing him of “coercive sexual behavior.” Nor did Mr. Hasan ask about allegations that the prosecutor rushed to CNN to make allegations against the two Israeli officials in an attempt to deflect attention from the sexual complaint. An investigation of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services found that Mr. Khan had “nonconsensual sexual contact” with his female underling, making unwelcome advances “in his office, at his private residence, and whilst on mission.” Mr. Hasan mentioned in passing that Presidents Biden and Trump harshly criticized Mr. Khan’s charges and the ICC’s subsequent arrest warrants against Messrs. Netanyahu and Gallant. Washington argues that the ICC lacks jurisdiction in these cases, as Israel is not under the court’s authority.Like America, Communist China, Russia, India, and several Arab countries, the Jewish state has not ratified the Rome Statute that established the court. Citizens of non-ICC members can’t be prosecuted by it, according to that statute. The ICC, though, claims it can investigate Americans and citizens of other non-member countries if alleged crimes are committed in the territory of a court member. In 2015 the ICC accepted the state of Palestine as its 123rd member, even as “Palestine” is yet to become a full UN member, and although several countries, including America, are yet to recognize it as a state. Based on Palestinian complaints, though, Mr. Khan launched an investigation, and even before fully completing the probe asked ICC judges to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials. Last month a panel of three ICC judges rejected the OIOS findings on Mr. Khan’s sexual misconduct, and decided that that prosecutor could resume his duties, the Associated Press reports. For now, Mr Khan says evidence is insufficient to charge “genocide” against the Israelis. The prosecutor, though, might yet satisfy Mr. Hasan’s clamor for ever-escalating warfare against the Jewish state.

Top International Prosecutor Acknowledges Shortage of Evidence To Charge Israelis With Genocide

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