The judges reportedly fear internal backlash over arrest warrants linked to Gaza war.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have secretly banned their chief prosecutor from publicizing arrest requests and warrants regarding the Israel-Hamas war, The Guardian reported Monday.
Court officials “with knowledge of internal discussions,” reported the British paper, said that “the publicity generated by [Karim] Khan’s statements has frustrated ICC judges and staff within the prosecutor’s office due to concerns his actions have departed from routine practice and placed pressure on the judges considering the applications.”
The order said that Khan could not publicize any future applications for arrest warrants unless he receives the court’s permission to do so.
According to The Guardian, a new round of warrants targeting Israelis is currently being organized, this time for alleged IDF misdeeds in Judea and Samaria, where the army is cracking down on Palestinian terrorists actively planning and attempting to carry out attacks against Israelis.
A political storm had erupted when Khan announced last May that he was looking to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Gaza.
Khan had tried to portray an even-handed investigation by issuing warrants on similar charges for the three highest-ranking Hamas terrorists as well, but they were all deceased, having already been assassinated by IDF forces.
Israeli leaders and Jewish groups from across the political spectrum had denounced his move as based on lies told by Hamas and its supporters, when the IDF could prove that it tried to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip as much as possible, doing far more than any other adversary had done before during wartime.
Israel also formally challenged the warrants’ viability, considering that the ICC has no jurisdiction since Jerusalem is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court.
While then-U.S. president Joe Biden and other Israeli allies had also condemned the warrants, saying they would not comply with them, President Donald Trump went further in February, putting Khan on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List so that he cannot enter the U.S. or access his American assets.
ICC requests for arrest warrants were handled in a much quieter manner by Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, who announced the issuance of warrants only after they had been approved by the court.
In this case, the ICC only approved the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gantz in November.
The post ICC judges secretly ban publicizing arrest requests for Israelis appeared first on World Israel News.