ICC at Crossroads Following Prosecutor Khan’s Removal

Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, was removed from his position on July 24 following allegations that he repeatedly had forcible, non-consensual sexual intercourse with a female subordinate.

Khan’s removal calls into question the future of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its unfounded arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Khan reportedly generated these warrants in order to distract from the sexual assault allegations he faced.

Khan was removed by a vote of the ICC’s 125 member states, which found that he had “committed serious misconduct.” The ICC claims jurisdiction over both Israel and the United States despite both countries’ refusal to join the court. The ICC has a longstanding investigation of alleged war crimes by U.S. personnel relating to the Afghanistan conflict.

Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders Issued Amid Sexual Assault Allegations Against Khan

Khan’s May 20, 2024, announcement that he would seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant came soon after he learned of the female subordinate’s allegations against him. Khan had been scheduled to visit Israel to review Israeli evidence as part of ICC due-process procedures. Khan reportedly told then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the visit was an important step before deciding on the warrants. But Khan stunned his own ICC staff by instead canceling the trip and requesting the warrants.

Khan and his defenders then used the Netanyahu and Gallant warrants to attempt to squelch and discredit the sexual assault allegations against the prosecutor. Khan’s female subordinate reportedly said he “pressured her to disavow her allegations by saying they would jeopardize the court’s investigation of Israel’s war conduct.”

In addition, Khan’s defenders repeatedly suggested that the sexual assault allegations were an Israeli intelligence smear against him because of the Netanyahu and Gallant warrant applications. However, a UN report rejected claims that the victim was linked to any foreign intelligence agency.

In November 2025, Israel formally requested that the ICC Appeals Chamber judges cancel the Netanyahu and Gallant arrest warrants on the grounds that they are “irremediably tainted,” since Khan did not act impartially but instead pursued the warrants to advance his personal interests. Israel’s filing explained that while Khan’s warrant requests were subsequently ratified by the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber, that ratification was inevitably tarnished because the chamber, lacking any independent investigative mandate or resources, had no choice but to rely on the prosecutor fulfilling his obligation to even-handedly present any and all exonerating (as well as incriminating) facts and arguments.

U.S. Embarks on ‘Sweeping Campaign’ Against ICC

The ICC member states’ vote to remove Khan came two weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the [ICC] to U.S. sovereignty.” Rubio noted that “[a]ctions under consideration” include “[i]ncreased sanctions against the ICC.” Washington already has sanctions on 11 ICC officials, including Khan, two of Khan’s deputy prosecutors, three judges who ruled to authorize the ICC’s investigation of U.S. personnel, and five judges involved in advancing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. 

Prominent observers have called for the administration to now sanction the ICC as an institution, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the court to continue operating. That appears to be the plan, with a State Department spokesman calling Khan a “small cog in this irredeemably corrupt institution” and asserting that his removal “will have no impact on the United States’s plans to dismantle the ICC.”

The ICC has a long history of politicized prosecutions, financial bloat, and senior officials sexually harassing their subordinates. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson has rightly warned that the politicized ICC warrants for Israeli officials “directly undermine U.S. national-security interests” by creating a precedent for issuing “arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.” The only way for the ICC to avert sanctions that would shut it down is likely to embark quickly on much-needed wholesale reforms, starting with withdrawing Khan’s tainted arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

Orde F. Kittrie is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a law professor at Arizona State University. He previously served for more than a decade in legal and policy positions at the U.S. State Department. For more analysis from Orde and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Orde on X @ordefk. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.