The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has told the BBC that justice must be seen to be done after seeking an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister.
Karim Khan said it was important to show that the court would hold all nations to the same standard in relation to alleged war crimes. He also welcomed the new UK government’s decision to drop its opposition to the arrest warrants.
He has also requested warrants for three Hamas leaders, two of whom have since been killed.
In a wide-ranging interview, he explained the ICC needed to request warrants for leaders on both sides to ensure people around the world thought the court was applying “the law equally based upon some common standards”.
“If one had applied for warrants in relation to Israeli officials and not for Gaza, [some would] say: ‘well, this is an obscenity’ and, ‘how on earth is that possible?’” Mr Khan said.
“You can’t have one approach for countries where there’s support, whether it’s Nato support, European support [and] powerful countries behind you, and a different approach where you have clear jurisdiction,” he added.
In May, Mr Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahiya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the day of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October onwards.
However the request for the warrants must yet be approved by ICC judges.
