Karim Khan Loses His Job as ICC Prosecutor

Peloni:  Very good.  Now follow this momentary move towards justice with the dismantling of the illicit ICC and UN, both.  Til such time as this might be accomplished, Israel should void all contracts with the UN, and seize all UN holdings inside Israel.

By Hugh Fitzgerald | July 25, 2026

Karim Khan, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

Not only has Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s senior prosecutor, just now been fired from his job, after a vote by the organization’s member states — the result of credible charges brought against him of sexual assault and rape of a subordinate, but he is unlikely to be hired by any law firm should he try to return to the practice of law. No one wants to have on staff someone with his unseemly, even criminal, background. More on the downfall of Karim Khan can be found here: “ICC dismisses prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations, diplomatic sources say,” Jerusalem Post, July 24, 2026:

Member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday voted to dismiss Karim Khan as prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct, two diplomatic sources told Reuters.

According to the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, 82 of the court’s 125 member states voted in favor of the prosecutor’s removal.

Khan, 56, denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers have called the decision by the court’s governing body that led to Friday’s vote unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence.

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Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said that in voting to dismiss Khan, the international community rejected Khan’s decision “to scapegoat Israel in an attempt to divert from his own misconduct.”

“Karim Khan believed that by launching a political witch hunt against Israel and issuing a politically motivated arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu, the world would ignore the grave sexual misconduct allegations against him. He was wrong,” Danon said.

“Those who attempt to prosecute Israel will not escape accountability. They will also lose the trust of the international community. The attacks against Israel, which were intended to distract from his disgraceful conduct, did not save Karim Khan, and they will not help [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani either,” he added….

Ambassador Danon is right to link Khan’s legal woes to his decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. The timing of Karim Khan’s preposterous charges against Israel deserves to be noted. He first learned on May 2, 2024 about the charges of “serious sexual misconduct” that were going to be made against him. The scandalous charge was, he knew, soon to be made public, but before it was, Khan on May 24 made public his own recommendation to the Court that it issue warrants for “war crimes” against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Israelis believe that Khan hoped that by making such sensational charges against Israel, he would divert public attention from his own scandal. Furthermore, Karim Khan knew that his bringing charges against Netanyahu and Gallant would win him support from Israel-haters around the world, including countries whose nationals serve as judges on the ICC.

Venezuela has formally notified the United Nations of its “irrevocable” decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia said on Friday.

The government justified the move by alleging a “geographical bias” within the court, claiming it disproportionately targets nations in the Global South, specifically across Africa and Latin America, Plasencia said in a post on X.

Third-World countries are underrepresented at the ICC, and Venezuela’s withdrawal from the ICC was a public expression of its unhappiness with this state of affairs. What happens if other states in South America and Africa withdraw from the ICC, further undermining its claim to represent the world? A rush for the exits by those member states could so weaken the international body that it will no longer command respect; its findings would be issued in a void.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered another blow to the ICC:

During a visit to the Philippines on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there were “lunatics and crazies involved in the ICC,” and there was no way any US political or military officials would ever go on trial at the court, reiterating previous criticism….

Like Israel, the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, and does not recognize its jurisdiction. Rubio and others in the Trump administration have been attacking both its decisions, such as the arrest warrants it has issued against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Galant, and its personnel, imposing sanctions on eleven of them, including some judges.

If the ICC wants to survive, it had best get rid of those whom Marco Rubio calls its “lunatics and crazies.” It needs to replace Khan with someone above reproach, someone not already a sworn enemy, as Karim Khan so obviously was, of Israel.