Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, was preparing to request arrest warrants for two far-right Israeli government ministers before going on leave over a sexual assault allegations probe against him, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The paper cited current and former officials as having said that the cases against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, focused “on their roles in expanding” illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Exclusive: ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan was preparing to seek arrest warrants for two far-right Israeli cabinet members before he went on leave as the U.N. investigates sexual-assault allegations against him, current and former court officials said https://t.co/gpC6UckskP
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 28, 2025
A decision on whether to pursue the cases “falls to Khan’s two deputies, and it is unclear how they plan to proceed,” the report noted.
Some official and legal experts, however, “doubt the court would move ahead without a chief prosecutor on the job, given the political risks such a prosecution could bring.”
US Sanctions
Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity over its ongoing military assault on Gaza, drawing condemnation from the United States.
ICC Rejects Israeli Appeal: Arrest Warrants Still Stand, Legal Expert Tells Palestine Chronicle
The Trump administration accused the ICC of having “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” and imposed sanctions against Khan and other ICC officials.
ICC officials and legal experts are concerned that new warrants against Israeli officials “might provoke the U.S. to target the court itself,” the paper said, as it could cripple the court by effectively cutting if off from the American financial system.
ICC Faces ‘Existential Threat’
Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association and an adviser to the ICC on sanctions, reportedly said that “In this political landscape I think both the prosecutor’s office and the court has to proceed with some degree of caution.”
Ellis added that the ICC “is facing an existential threat.”
ICC Prosecutors Urge Judges to Reject Israel’s Bid to Withdraw Arrest Warrants
The paper said new warrants would increase the international pressure on Netanyahu as European countries and Canada have escalated their criticism of the ongoing military operation in Gaza and imposed new sanctions on illegal settlers in the West Bank.
‘Filed Under Seal’
ICC judges have ordered that any new warrant applications against Israeli officials or Hamas representatives “be filed under seal,” the paper said, citing officials.
Israel is not a member of the ICC, and according to the paper, the court’s jurisdiction “over possible crimes committed by Israeli officials in the occupied territories has been a matter of dispute.”
ICC Bars Prosecutor from Publicizing New Applications for Israel Arrest Warrants
It said the court ruled in 2021 that Palestine “was a state party to the Rome Statute, and that the court has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed there even though Israel isn’t an ICC member.” Israel remains adamant that its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories do not fall under the ICC’s jurisdiction, the paper added.
Over 54,000 Killed
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 54,000, wounding more than 122,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
More than 50,000 children have been killed or injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023, the UN children’s fund said on Wednesday.
“The children of Gaza need protection. They need food, water, and medicine. They need a ceasefire. But more than anything, they… pic.twitter.com/G5nW6PyUxm
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 28, 2025
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
The homo Israeli prison guards raped Palestinian detainees. Where is the investigation into their behaviors? And how convenient that suddenly Khan is being investigated. This is why no one likes the Jews, because they’re shady and scummy people who would do anything to justify killing little children.
So are the arrest warrants theater??
What is the use when the Occupation, Starvation, Ethnic Cleansing, Proposed Concentration Camp continues without skipping a beat!!!
So deeply ashamed as complicit countries watch this unfold.
Karma, justice, where is there hope any longer….Anti-Semtic, that’s there arguments SHIT!!!!