Ex-British PM threatened ICC over Israel – media

David Cameron reportedly warned prosecutor Karim Khan against issuing warrants for Israeli leaders

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to defund the International Criminal Court (ICC) and withdraw the UK from its founding treaty if Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for Israeli leaders last year, the Middle East Eye (MEE) has reported.

The ICC issued warrants last November for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, for alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza conflict. Washington has since imposed sanctions on Khan, accusing him of abuse of power by going after US allies.

The prosecutor first reached out to inform London of his intentions last April, the MEE wrote on Monday, citing anonymous staffers familiar with the conversation.

Cameron, who was then Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government, reportedly telephoned Khan and warned him that seeking the warrants would be “like dropping a hydrogen bomb.” He reportedly promised that London would “defund the court and withdraw from the Rome Statute,” if the ICC issued the arrest warrants.

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Allegedly, Cameron grew increasingly aggressive as the conversation went on, repeatedly shouting over Khan, who had to ask to finish his points, according to the MEE.

The top prosecutor reportedly argued that if the UK withdrew over the matter, “then we would have to accept that the rules-based system would be dead,” stressing that there was a “serious risk” that people would view the standard as “not being applied equally.”

The phone call ended without either man backing down, the MEE reported.

Less than a month later, Khan announced he would be seeking the warrants.

In response, Cameron publicly blasted the ICC, claiming the court had effectively drawn a “moral equivalence” between Netanyahu and Hamas.

READ MORE: ICC chief prosecutor pushed for charges on Netanyahu after facing sex assault allegations – WSJ

Last month, West Jerusalem reiterated its call for the judicial body to withdraw its arrest warrants on Netanyahu and Gallant. Israel – like the US, Russia and China – does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.