An op-ed published on Thursday by the Wall Street Journal connects allegations of sexual harassment against International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan, and arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant.
According to the article, the prosecutor’s attitude towards Israel changed drastically after he was accused of sexual harassment of one of his workers.
Israel-bashing is a reliable way to divert attention and pressure. For Mr. Khan it brought acclaim from the left, which dominates international legal circles. The ICC kept quiet about the harassment allegation for more than five months until an anonymous Twitter account brought it to light last week, when an anonymous employee exposed the details in a court report, claiming that, Khan locked the worker in his office and sexually touched her, put his hand in her pocket; visited her hotel room in the middle of the night, demanding to be let in; claimed to have a headache and lying on her hotel bed, sexually touching her.
After hearing the allegations Khan appeared stunned and conveyed confusion about what was transpiring. He commented that he is ‘finished and will need to resign.’” But Khan did not resign.
Mr. Khan long assured Western leaders that he would conduct a thorough investigation into the accusations against Israel. He told a group of US senators that he would not rush to judgment before engaging with Israel and hearing its side of the story. He seemed sincere, scheduling preliminary meetings in Israel for May 20. But instead of showing up, Mr. Khan appeared on CNN that day to announce he’d seek the arrest warrants.
The Court’s official response states that they are aware of the allegations against Khan, "The court has a zero tolerance policy towards prohibited behavior, such as sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse of authority. Any report of inappropriate behavior is taken very seriously, while fully respecting the presumption of innocence."