Karim Khan vs. Netanyahu — The ICC Arrest Warrants That Changed Everything

On May 20, 2024, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that his office had applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Khan stated that, based on evidence collected and examined by his office, there were reasonable grounds to believe the two officials bore criminal responsibility for international crimes committed in Gaza beginning on October 8, 2023.

The allegations presented by Khan's office included starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury, willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians, murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

Then, on November 21, 2024, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I actually issued the arrest warrants. The judges found reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts, and, in Netanyahu's and Gallant's capacity as civilian superiors, the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.

The warrants remain part of the ICC's official Situation in the State of Palestine case. The Court states that the alleged conduct covers the period from at least October 8, 2023 through May 20, 2024.

Then came another remarkable development. On July 24, 2026, the Assembly of States Parties voted to remove Karim Khan as ICC Prosecutor following disciplinary proceedings. The ICC said that 82 States Parties found him responsible for serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty. Khan has denied the allegations. His removal comes while the ICC is facing significant pressure from the United States and Israel over its investigations and warrants concerning Israeli officials.

That timing raises an important question for the viewer: what happens to international justice when the prosecutor who pursued powerful political leaders is removed while those cases remain active?

This video preserves Karim Khan's historic announcement and the evidence-based reasoning presented by his office. Listen to what he said on May 20, 2024. Compare it with the November 21, 2024 warrants. Then consider what happened to Khan in 2026.

History will remember you, Karim Khan.