ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan issued arrest warrants to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant two weeks after his female aide accused him of severe assault and a day after he abruptly canceled a critical visit to Israel and Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the aide’s testimony, Khan began assaulting her in March 2023 and continued for months, even after she told him she was feeling suicidal due to the abuse.

On April 29, 2024, the aide, a Muslim lawyer from Malaysia in her 30s, tearfully shared the abuse with Thomas Lynch, a close American adviser to Khan, and another individual, saying she can no longer endure it.

Several days later, Lynch and two others confronted Khan and told him they intended to report the allegations to the court’s human resources office. Khan initially said he would have to resign, but then added, “But then people will think I’m running away from Palestine.”

On May 5, 2024, the ICC’s internal investigation agency contacted the aide, but she refused to cooperate because, as a Muslim, she did not want to disrupt the issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. [She later changed her mind and officially reported the allegations.]

According to the testimony she later provided, which was reviewed by the WSJ, Khan tearfully pleaded with her at the office several times after her allegations were publicized, saying: “Tell me if I need to resign. Think about the Palestinian arrest warrants.”

In October 2024, he begged her by phone to deny the allegations, warning her of the consequences if she didn’t: “The casualties will unfortunately be three: You and your family, me and my family, and the justice of the Palestinian victims.”

She testified that Khan and one of his advisers repeatedly harassed her into denying the allegations.

By August 2024, the aide was so distressed by the constant harassment that she approached members of the ICC’s governing board. “I held on for as long as I could because I didn’t want to mess up the Palestinian arrest warrants,” she told them.

She added that she also didn’t report the abuse earlier out of concern that Khan would retaliate, she would lose her job, and be unable to pay for her mother’s cancer treatments.

The harassment continued even after she reported the abuse to the board. Khan’s wife, Shyamala Alagendra, a high-profile international lawyer who specializes in gender-based crimes, has been accused of acting inappropriately following the charges, including contacting and confronting the aide about her allegations against her husband.

Despite the severe allegations, Khan has refused to take a leave of absence from his high-profile position.

Khan’s brother, Imran, is a former British politician who was expelled in disgrace after he was convicted in 2021 of assaulting a teenage boy.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)