Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday castigated Karim Khan, ousted prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, by comparing him to a “criminal”, and at the same time confirmed his coming to the UN General Assembly, despite the opposition of the mayor of New York.
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Asked on the American channel Fox News about the ICC arrest warrant which has targeted him since 2024, Mr. Netanyahu considered that it was a “scam” launched by Karim Khan, now “completely unmasked as a criminal”.
The then ICC prosecutor – he was dismissed from his post on Friday – “was going to be the subject of prosecution for sexual harassment […] so he said to himself, “How am I going to divert attention from my criminal actions to something that will protect me?” “, judged the Israeli leader.
“He defrauded the international community with these false accusations of war crimes brought against us,” added Benjamin Netanyahu.
ICC member states voted on Friday to terminate Karim Khan’s mandate for “serious misconduct” and “serious neglect of the duties of his office.” The Briton is the target of allegations of sexual assault by a member of his team, which he rejects.
The international institution, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants in 2024 against Benyamin Netanyahu for war crimes and against humanity in the Gaza Strip as part of the Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation for the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
It is on this basis that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called last week on American authorities to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to the UN General Assembly in September. A possibility rejected by Donald Trump.
The councilor “vomits hatred, he is supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone, but he is trying to pit one group against the other,” denounced the Israeli Prime Minister on Sunday.
He assured that he had spoken with Jews in New York “and they are afraid at the moment”.
“I intend to come and tell the truth, to speak in favor of Israel and the Israeli-American alliance from the podium of the United Nations,” he said.
He is first expected in Washington on Tuesday for a meeting at the White House with Donald Trump, while hostilities between the United States and Iran have resumed for several weeks.
