ICC’s Khan puts his office back on collision course with Washington

The British lawyer and prosecutor who helped end a U.S. policy against the International Criminal Court on Monday requested an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, putting his office back on a collision course with Washington.
Karim Khan, who became chief prosecutor of the world’s first permanent war crimes court in 2021, asked pre-trial judges to order the arrest of Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three top Hamas leaders.
Just months after being appointed to a nine-year term in The Hague, Khan shifted the ICC’s investigation in Afghanistan away from U.S. forces to focus on the alleged crimes of the Taliban and local ISIS militants. The move drew criticism from human rights organisations and was seen by some as an attempt to win
over Washington.
Opposition to the ICC came to a head during the administration of former President Donald Trump, when the United States sanctioned members of the court and blocked the bank accounts of Khan’s predecessor.