PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The chief prosecutor in the International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly used the situation in Gaza to try to silence a woman accusing him of sexual assault.
👥 Who’s Involved: British-Pakistani Karim Khan KC, an unnamed Malaysian woman, the ICC, the United Nations (UN).
📍 Where & When: The accusations date back to 2023, but recordings of Khan were released on May 11.
💬 Key Quote: “It’s the feeling of being trapped.” — Unnamed Malaysian victim.
⚠️ Impact: The accusations call Khan’s credibility into question, with some claiming he launched the prosecution of Netanyahu after learning of the accusations against him.
IN FULL:
A British-Pakistani prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been accused of using Gaza to silence a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. Karim Khan KC heads the war crimes case against Israel at the ICC in the Hague and is alleged to have told the woman accusing him that her accusations could harm the Palestinian cause.
Khan’s statements were allegedly recorded during a phone conversation. He stated, “The casualties [of the victim’s allegations] will unfortunately be three: You and your family, me and my family, and the justice of [Israel’s] victims.” Khan is currently under investigation by the United Nations, which heard the recording as testimony.
Khan launched the arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Tuesday, two weeks after he had learned of the sex allegations.
According to reports, the alleged victim is a Malaysian woman in her thirties, said to have been pressured into non-consensual sexual intercourse several times by Khan. “He always holds on to me and leads me to the bed,” the alleged victim said in her testimony, adding, “It’s the feeling of being trapped.” The various assaults allegedly took place in the Hague as well as on trips to Paris and countries in Africa.
Khan rejects the allegations and claims that not only are they not true, but he had informed the United States he would be seeking to arrest Netanyahu before learning about the allegations against him.
Image by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.