The United Nations says new US sanctions against members of the International Criminal Court will undermine justice. In announcing the measures, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the ICC a ‘national security threat’ for its efforts to arrest Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Published On 20 Aug 202520 Aug 2025
Report says Karim Khan ‘privately threatened’ by then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron with UK’s withdrawal from International Criminal Court.
New details have emerged about a series of intimidation campaigns, including threats to safety as well as possible sanctions, directed at the British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as he pursues an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israeli officials in Gaza.
Karim Khan has also been subjected to intense pressure from top British and United States public officials for The Hague court to withdraw the arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the Middle East Eye (MEE) news website reported.
The latest report followed an earlier revelation by the London-based online publication in July that Khan and the ICC were threatened with being “destroyed” if they pursued the case against Israel.
According to the MEE report published on Friday, Khan was “privately threatened” by then-British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in April 2024 that the UK would defund and withdraw from the ICC if it issued warrants against the Israeli leaders, which it did so in November.
In May 2024, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also “threatened” Khan with sanctions if he applied for the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, the MEE reported.
Since then, the administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Khan and four ICC judges.
Khan also received a security briefing warning him that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency “was active in The Hague and posed a potential threat” to him, the MEE reported.
Khan, who is currently on indefinite leave amid allegations of sexual misconduct, was also reportedly told by his female accuser in text messages that there were “games being played” and attempts to make her a “pawn in some game I don’t want to play”, according to the MEE.
The ICC investigations into Khan’s alleged behaviour were later closed after the female witness refused to cooperate with them, but a separate United Nations probe remains.
Khan has strenuously denied all the allegations against him.
Two weeks before he was forced to go on leave in May 2025, Khan also reportedly met with Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the ICC, to discuss the Israel investigation, the MEE report said.
In a note of the meeting on file at the ICC, Kaufman reportedly told Khan that if the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were not dropped, “they will destroy you, and they will destroy the court.”
The report said some ICC lawyers have privately “expressed doubts” about the allegations against Khan, which emerged after the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were issued.
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza. Deif has since been confirmed killed in an Israeli attack.
The Israeli defendants remain internationally wanted suspects, and ICC member states are under a legal obligation to arrest them.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 60,430 Palestinians and wounded 148,722.
In recent months, Israel has been accused of committing new war crimes after reports that Israeli forces intentionally shot and killed hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians waiting to collect humanitarian aid from GHF food distribution points.
Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom have been sentenced for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The International Criminal Court has convicted two leaders of a predominantly Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic for multiple war crimes committed against Muslim civilians during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014, sentencing each to more than a decade in prison.
The former president of the CAR Football Federation, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, along with Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader known as “Rambo,” were found guilty on Thursday of their involvement in atrocities including murder, torture and attacking civilians.
The court sentenced Yekatom to 15 years for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ngaissona received 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The charges stem from their roles as senior leaders in a militia known as the anti-Balaka, which was formed in 2013 after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels stormed the capital Bangui in March of that year and toppled then-President Francois Bozize, a Christian.
The violence that ensued left thousands of civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed.
The ICC’s presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt read harrowing details in The Hague of the violence committed by the militia against suspected Seleka Muslims.
Yekatom’s men tortured one suspect by cutting off his fingers, toes, and one ear. This man’s body was never found. Others were killed and then mutilated.
Appearing in court dressed in a light brown suit and waistcoat, white shirt, and dark tie, Yekatom listened impassively as the judge read out the verdict.
Dressed in a bright blue jacket, Ngaissona nodded to the judge as his sentence was delivered.
The court found Yekatom not guilty of conscripting child soldiers and acquitted Ngaissona of the charge of rape.
Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges laid out in the trial, which opened in 2021. It is the first case at the ICC, which began in May 2014, to focus on the violence that erupted after the Seleka seized power in the CAR in 2013.
Yekatom was extradited to The Hague in late 2018, after being arrested in the CAR for firing his gun in parliament. Ngaissona was arrested in France in December 2018 and extradited to The Hague.
The trial of an alleged Seleka commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, is ongoing.
Last year, judges at the ICC unsealed another arrest warrant in the investigation. According to prosecutors, Edmond Beina commanded a group of about 100-400 anti-balaka fighters responsible for murdering Muslims in early 2014.
Separate proceedings against Beina and five others at a specially-created court are slated to begin in the CAR on Friday.
The CAR is among the poorest nations in the world and has endured a succession of civil wars and authoritarian governments since gaining independence from France in 1960.
Violence has subsided in recent years, but fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Russian mercenaries and Rwandan troops.
101 East follows the Catholic priest taking on former Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte for alleged “drug war” crimes.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” killed thousands of people.
For years, Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva has gathered evidence of alleged extrajudicial killings.
He exhumed victims’ bodies for forensic examination and protected a key witness who claims he worked as a contract killer for Duterte.
In March 2025, the priest’s persistence paid off when Duterte was arrested and extradited to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.
101 East follows Father Villanueva’s fight for justice for the victims of Duterte’s brutal crackdown.
A British-Israeli defence lawyer at the International Criminal Court linked to a Netanyahu adviser delivered message to Karim Khan.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has been warned that if arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are not withdrawn, he and the ICC would be “destroyed”, the Middle East Eye (MEE) reports.
The warning was delivered in May to Khan by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the court linked to a Netanyahu adviser who said the Israeli leader’s legal adviser told him he was “authorised” to make Khan a proposal that would allow Khan to “climb down the tree”, the news website said.
According to a note of the meeting on file at the ICC and seen by MEE, Kaufman told Khan to apply to the court to reclassify the warrants and underlying information as “confidential”.
This, it was suggested, would allow Israel to access the details of the allegations, which it could not do at the time, and challenge them in private – without the outcome being made public.
Kaufman warned Khan that if it emerged Khan was applying for more arrest warrants for far-right Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over their promotion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, then “all options would be off the table.”
Kaufman told Khan: “They will destroy you, and they will destroy the court.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif in November on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent genocidal war in Gaza. Deif has since been confirmed dead.
Since then, the Israeli defendants are internationally wanted suspects, and ICC member states are under legal obligation to arrest them although several have been wary to agree to it.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, hit out this month against countries that have allowed Netanyahu to fly over their airspace en route to the United States, suggesting that they may have flouted their obligations under international law.
Albanese said the governments of Italy, France and Greece needed to explain why they provided “safe passage” to Netanyahu, who they were theoretically “obligated to arrest” as an internationally wanted suspect when he flew over their territory on his way to meet US President Donald Trump for talks.
All three countries are signatories of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established The Hague-based ICC in 2002.
Kaufman told MEE: “I do not deny that I told Mr Khan that he should be looking for a way to extricate himself from his errors. I am not authorised to make any proposals on behalf of the Israeli government nor did I.”
Khan and his wife, Dato Shyamala Alagendra, who also attended the meeting with Kaufman, both confirmed this to be a threat, according to the note of the meeting seen by MEE.
Netanyahu’s office did not respond to requests for comment from MEE.
At the time of the meeting, Khan was facing investigation over sexual misconduct claims. Two weeks later, Khan stepped down on indefinite leave after the publication by The Wall Street Journal of new allegations of sexual assault.
Khan has strenuously denied all the allegations against him.
MEE revealed details of Khan’s meeting with Kaufman on May 1 at a hotel in The Hague.
Kaufman is an ICC defence lawyer whose current work includes representing Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines currently in ICC custody. He was arrested on an ICC warrant over allegations that “crimes against humanity” were committed during what his government called its “war on drugs”.
July 11 (UPI) — War crimes are likely being committed in Sudan, with rape and sexual violence being used as weapons, the International Criminal Court said in a report to the United Nations.
“There is an inescapable pattern of offending, targeting gender and ethnicity through rape and sexual violence,” ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told U.N. ambassadors this week.
Khan said the ICC has “reasonable grounds to believe” both war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the northeast African country, which has been plagued by an active civil war for approximately two years.
A team of ICC prosecutors is currently attempting to collect evidence of reported crimes in the Darfur Region in the western part of Sudan.
In February, U.N. officials called for $6 billion to help combat starvation and sexual violence in Sudan. A report at the time said “civilians are paying the highest price” in the country with a population of more than 50 million people.
Sudan’s military has been at war since April of 2023 with the Rapid Support Forces, a breakaway militant group run by Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa. The conflict has seen millions of people displaced, with tens of thousands killed since the country’s then-President Omar al-Bashir was removed from office in a civilian coup.
The two sides have continued attacks against each other, with civilians often becoming collateral damage.
In March, Sudan’s military recaptured the presidential palace.
A month later, an RSF attack killed over 100 people in Darfur. Figures provided by U.N. officials at the time showed over 24,000 people had been killed in the conflict with more than 700,000 refugees from the Darfur region jammed into two camps.
In January, the United States sanctioned Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces of undermining peace efforts.
Khan, this week, said the ICC has so far collected more than 7,000 pieces of evidence from refugee camps in neighbouring Chad. The prosecutor also called on the international community to “ensure there is no gap in our efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.”
The ICC was first given a mandate in 2002 by the U.N. Security Council to pursue war crimes in Darfur, with several subsequent investigations.
The Hague court’s Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan warns civil war ‘has reached an intolerable state’.
A senior International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity” are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan’s western Darfur region.
ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan presented her assessment before the United Nations Security Council on Thursday of the devastating conflict, which has raged since 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and displacing 13 million others.
Khan said the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur “has reached an intolerable state”, with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted.
She said it was “difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur”.
“On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur,” she said.
The prosecutor’s office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighbouring Chad.
She detailed an “intolerable” humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that “famine is escalating” as aid is unable to reach “those in dire need”.
“People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponised,” Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become “common practice”.
In June, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan warned that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had escalated the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and weaponised humanitarian relief, amid the devastating consequences of the civil war.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan had told the Security Council in January that there were grounds to believe both parties may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in the region, while the administration of then-US President Joe Biden determined that the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide.
The Security Council had previously referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during conflict in the region in the 2000s.
In 2023, the ICC opened a new probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the SAF and RSF.
The RSF’s predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region.
ICC judges are expected to deliver their first decision on crimes committed in Darfur two decades ago in the case of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kosheib, after the trial ended in 2024.
“I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population – they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past,” said Khan.
“But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court,” added Khan.
On Tuesday, the International Criminal Court (pictured in the Hague, Netherlands, in March) issued its arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, over crimes against humanity on girls, women and “other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression.” Photo By Robin Utrecht/EPA
July 8 (UPI) — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for two top Taliban officials over a plethora of allegations of crimes against women and young girls.
The court, based in the Hague, Netherlands, issued its international arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and its chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, over “reasonable grounds” of crimes against humanity on girls, women and “other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression.”
ICC officials stated the alleged crimes were believed to be committed in Afghanistan from around the time the Taliban seized power until as late as January of this year.
According to the ICC, Akhundzada and Haggani held defect authority in Afghanistan starting at least August 2021.
It accused the two Taliban leaders of “severe” violations of fundamental rights and freedoms against the Afghan population.
Last week, Russia became the first nation to officially recognize Afghanistan’s extremist Taliban government.
The tribunal on Tuesday pointed to “conducts of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance.”
“Specifically, the Taliban severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion,” court officials wrote in a release.
It added that other individuals were “targeted” due to “certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity” thought to be inconsistent with the Taliban’s policy on gender.
“The Chamber found that gender persecution encompasses not only direct acts of violence, but also systemic and institutionalized forms of harm, including the imposition of discriminatory societal norms,” the ICC ruling continued.
In addition, the court also found that even people simply perceived to be in opposition to Taliban policies were targeted, which the court says included “political opponents” and “those described as ‘allies of girls and women.'”
The International Criminal Court, ratified in 2002 and created to try global cases of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity, was the product of 50 years of United Nations efforts.
The court’s stated goal was to publicly disclose the two warrants existence in hopes that public awareness “may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of these crimes.”
However, the chamber opted to keep the warrants under seal to protect victim witnesses and future court proceedings.
Judges say Taliban officials have ‘severely deprived’ girls and women of rights including education.
Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders on charges of persecuting women and girls.
ICC judges on Tuesday said there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing gender-based persecution.
“While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,” the court said in a statement.
The Taliban had “severely deprived” girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion, ICC judges said.
“In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban’s policy on gender.”
The court said the alleged crimes had been committed between August 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized power, and continued until at least January 20, 2025.
The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought the warrants in January, saying that they recognised that “Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban”.
UK-based rights group Amnesty International welcomed the move by the ICC, saying it was an “important step towards justice”.
“The announcement is an important development that gives hope, inside and outside the country to Afghan women, girls, as well as those persecuted on the basis of gender identity or expression,” Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
“This is a crucial step to hold accountable all those allegedly responsible for the gender-based deprivation of fundamental rights to education, to free movement and free expression, to private and family life, to free assembly, and to physical integrity and autonomy.”
The US-based Human Rights Watch also welcomed the decision.
“Senior Taliban leaders are now wanted men for their alleged persecution of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people. The international community should fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court’s warrants,” Liz Evenson, the group’s international justice director, said in a statement.
The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up to rule on the world’s worst crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has no police force of its own and relies on member states to carry out its arrest warrants – with mixed results.
In theory, this means anyone subject to an ICC arrest warrant cannot travel to a member state for fear of being detained.
Last year, the United Nations accused the Taliban government of barring at least 1.4 million girls of their right to an education during their time in power.
Taking into account the number of girls not going to school before the group came to power, the UN said 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls – a total of 2.5 million – were being denied their right to an education.
Authorities also imposed restrictions on women working for non-governmental groups and other employment, with thousands of women losing government jobs.
Beauty salons have been closed and women blocked from visiting public parks and gyms as well as travelling long distances without a male chaperone.
A “vice and virtue” law announced last summer ordered women not to sing or recite poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be “concealed” outside the home.
Palestinian group Hamas says it has given a “positive” response to a United States-brokered proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, raising hopes of a possible breakthrough in halting Israel’s deadly offensive.
US President Donald Trump earlier announced a “final proposal” for a 60-day truce in the nearly 21-month-old war, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in the coming hours.
Hamas said late on Friday that the group had submitted its reply to Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating the talks.
“The movement [Hamas] has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterised by a positive spirit. Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework,” a statement by the group said.
Trump said earlier this week that Israel had accepted the main conditions of a proposed 60-day truce, during which time negotiations would aim to permanently end the war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly endorse the plan.
Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes in Gaza, is expected to meet Trump in Washington on Monday.
According to Israeli media reports early on Saturday, Israeli government officials had received Hamas’s official response to the latest ceasefire proposal framework and were reviewing its contents.
According to a translated copy of the framework shared with Al Jazeera, the deal would include a 60-day truce, guaranteed by Trump, with a phased release of Israeli captives and increased humanitarian aid.
The proposed exchange includes the release of 10 living and 18 deceased Israeli captives from the “List of 58”. Releases would occur on days one, seven, 30, 50, and 60 – beginning with eight live captives on the first day.
![Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, stand in an area at a makeshift tent camp at dusk in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25183695042685-1751561754.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Under the plan, aid would flow into Gaza immediately following Hamas’s approval, in quantities comparable to the January 2025 agreement. Distribution would be handled by agencies including the United Nations and the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
As part of the proposed Gaza ceasefire framework, all Israeli military operations would stop once the agreement takes effect, Al Jazeera has learned.
The deal includes a pause in military and surveillance flights over Gaza for 10 hours each day – or 12 hours on days when captives and prisoners are exchanged.
Negotiations for a permanent ceasefire would begin on day one under the supervision of mediators. Talks would cover a full exchange of captives for Palestinian prisoners, Israeli troop withdrawal, future security arrangements, and “day-after” plans for Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the Hamas response was “much-awaited, much-anticipated”, with anxious besieged Palestinians asking when it would come.
“We don’t know whether this response … is going to bring an end to the ongoing killings … or the presence of the [Israeli] drones,” he said.
Heavy shelling and gunfire continue near food distribution points, and uncertainty remains over whether serious negotiations will lead to relief.
“None of this is clear right now,” Mahmoud added, “but at least it’s a first step.”
Trump, speaking early on Friday, said he expected clarity from Hamas “over the next 24 hours”.
He added, “We hope it’s going to happen. And we’re looking forward to it happening sometime next week. We want to get the hostages out.”
Despite Hamas’s endorsement, the group has reportedly sought guarantees that the proposed truce would lead to a permanent end to Israel’s war and prevent Tel Aviv from resuming attacks at will.
According to two Israeli officials quoted by the Reuters news agency, details of the proposal are still under negotiation. Meanwhile, Israel is said to be pressing Trump for written assurances that it can resume operations if its key demands – Hamas disarmament and the exile of its leadership – are not met.
Israeli broadcaster Channel 14, citing a senior political source, reported earlier this week that the deal includes a side letter from Trump granting Israel the authority to “renew the fire” should Hamas fail to comply. The document would allow Israel to determine whether the terms had been fulfilled.
Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that any Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza must be dismantled as a precondition for peace – an issue that remains a major sticking point.
A previous two-month truce ended when Israeli strikes killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18 and led to what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called “the cruellest phase of a cruel war”. More than 6,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel broke the truce.
Overall, Israeli forces have killed at least 57,268 Palestinians and wounded more than 130,000 since October 7, 2023.
US President Donald Trump links US aid to Netanyahu’s corruption trial in fiery post on his social media site.
United States President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on Israeli prosecutors over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, calling it “insanity” and linking Washington’s financial support to the proceedings.
Posting on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump lashed out at Israeli authorities for undermining Netanyahu’s ability to negotiate with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza and manage mounting tensions with Iran.
“It is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump wrote, referring to the Israeli leader with his nickname and claiming his trial would obstruct peace efforts in the region.
“The United States of America spends billions of dollars a year … protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this,” he added.
Netanyahu is set to take the stand on Monday for cross-examination in a long-running corruption case that began in 2020.
He faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust – all of which he denies. His lawyers had requested a two-week delay in testimony, citing national security demands following Israel’s recent 12-day conflict with Iran. That appeal was rejected on Friday.
Members of Israel’s Knesset have accused Netanyahu of using the regional conflicts to secure an end to his corruption trial.
“[Netanyahu] is conditioning the future of Israel and our children on his trial,” Naama Lazimi, Knesset member from the Democrats Party, told The Times of Israel newspaper.
Karine Elharrar, Knesset member from Yesh Atid party, warned that Netanyahu is “acting against the Israeli public interest” by linking his legal fate with captive negotiations and regional normalisation agreements.
Netanyahu’s legal troubles include an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued last year for him and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
The charges include war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Israel’s war on Gaza, beginning in October 2023. Both leaders have called the arrest warrant “anti-Semitic”.
Trump’s comments come just days after he suggested a ceasefire deal with Hamas may be close.
Speaking to reporters, he claimed Netanyahu was engaged in negotiations with the Palestinian group, though no further details were provided.
Hamas has stated it would free remaining Israeli captives in Gaza as part of a deal to end the war, but has rejected Israeli demands for total disarmament.
Netanyahu responded to Trump’s defence with a post on X: “Thank you again, @realDonaldTrump. Together, we will make the Middle East Great Again!”
The political turmoil in Israel has deepened, with renewed calls for Netanyahu’s resignation. In a televised interview with Channel 12, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said it was time for Netanyahu to step aside.
“He has been in power for 20 years … that’s too much,” said Bennett. “He bears heavy responsibility for the divisions in Israeli society.”
Bennett, who has taken a break from politics, is reportedly eyeing a return, with polls suggesting he could challenge Netanyahu once more.
India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been handed a demerit point after he admitted showing dissent towards the umpires during the first Test with England.
Pant, 27, was deemed to have committed a level one offence by the International Cricket Council (ICC) under article 2.8 of its code of conduct., external
The incident occurred in the 61st over of England’s first innings on day three of the Test at Headingley, when Harry Brook and Ben Stokes were batting.
Pant was seen having a discussion with on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffaney in relation to the condition of the match ball.
When the umpires refused to change the ball after they had checked it with the ball gauge, Pant reacted by throwing the ball on the ground in front of them.
Because Pant admitted the offence, and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Richie Richardson, he was not required to attend a formal hearing.
An ICC statement said: “One demerit point has been added to Pant’s disciplinary record, for whom it was the first offence in a 24-month period.”
When a player reaches four or more demerit points within a two-year time frame, the points are converted into suspension points and a player is banned.
Two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is.
Left-hander Pant has played a key role for India during the match in Leeds.
He became only the second batter to make hundreds in each innings in a Test at Headingley and the second wicketkeeper to do so anywhere.
British sympathy for the Palestinian cause – and criticism of Israel – is surging, according to a new survey.
London, United Kingdom – Most Britons who oppose Israel’s war on Gaza believe the onslaught, which has to date killed more than 55,000 people, amounts to genocide, according to a new poll.
The survey, carried out by YouGov and commissioned by the Action for Humanity charity and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) advocacy group, found that 55 percent of Britons are against Israel’s aggression. A significant number of those opponents – 82 percent – said Israel’s actions amount to genocide.
“This translates to 45 percent of adults in the UK who view Israel’s actions as genocidal,” said Action for Humanity and ICJP.
Details of the poll, which 2,010 people responded to in early June, were released on Wednesday.
Sixty-five percent said the UK should enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit Britain.
“It is clear that a majority of the public here are disgusted with Israel’s conduct, and a growing number agree that this is clearly a genocide,” said Othman Moqbel, head of Action for Humanity.
He added that all but a few believe the UK should do “everything in its power to stop Israel and seek justice against those responsible”.
“The government’s failure to recognise the scale of the crimes being inflicted upon Gaza is not just putting them on the wrong side of history, it’s putting them on the wrong side of the present day.”
Tens of thousands of Britons have taken to the streets over the past 20 months to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has in recent weeks adopted harsher tones on Israel and sanctioned top officials. In 2024, the UK suspended 30 arms export licences to Israel for use in Gaza amid concerns Israel was violating international humanitarian laws.
But critics have lamented the pace and power of the UK’s response, calling for tougher sanctions and measures that would prevent Israel from receiving F-35 components made in Britain.
The survey also highlighted the positions of Britons who voted for the Labour Party in the 2024 general election.
Of the 68 percent of Labour voters who are against Israel’s actions in Gaza, 87 percent believe they amount to genocide. Seventy-eight percent of Labour voters said the UK should enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
The UK has suggested it would comply with the ICC warrant.
“The UK government is totally out of touch with the British public they are supposed to represent, and the Labour Party are even more out of touch with their own voters,” said Jonathan Purcell of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.
“UK policymaking should be based on complying with international law obligations, regardless, but this poll just goes to show the level of popular support for such policies too. There is absolutely no appetite to drag our national reputation through the mud by continuing to stand with a rogue, pariah state.”
India and Pakistan will meet in the round-robin stage of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 on October 5, five months after the most intense military escalations between the two nations, cricket’s governing body has confirmed.
The cricket powerhouses will also face each other in the group stage of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, with the marquee clash scheduled for June 14, according to the tournament’s schedule announced by the ICC on Wednesday.
India are hosting the 50-over World Cup 2025 from September 30 to November 2, but all of Pakistan’s fixtures – including any appearances in the semifinals and final – will be held in Sri Lanka as both countries agreed to an ICC-brokered deal in December 2024 to face each other at neutral venues at future ICC events.
India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, but there are competing claims on the casualties.
Following the escalations, several Indian media outlets reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked the ICC to avoid allocating them the same group as Pakistan in global tournaments.
However, BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla confirmed that while India does not “want to play with Pakistan in bilateral series because of the government’s stand”, the country will meet its western neighbour at ICC events “due to the ICC’s engagement”.
“The ICC is also aware, whatever is happening, they will look into it,” Shukla was quoted as saying by Indian media.
During the standoff, which led to fears of an all-out war, former and current cricketers from both countries made social media posts in support of their respective armed forces.
Given the gravity of the situation, the possibility of both nations meeting on a cricket field was under some doubt, but the ICC confirmed the 50-over tournament’s schedule on Monday, with the India-Pakistan round-robin stage match scheduled in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the first week of the tournament.
The rest of Pakistan’s six fixtures will also be played in the Sri Lankan capital, with the R Premadasa Stadium the likely venue.
Should Pakistan qualify for the semifinals, they will play the first knockout match on October 29 in Colombo. If they do not qualify, the match will be played on the same date in Guwahati.
The fate of the final will also be decided in a similar manner, with Colombo bagging the hosting rights should Pakistan make it, and Bengaluru hosting it in case they do not.
The eight-team Women’s Cricket World Cup will begin on September 30 with hosts India taking on Sri Lanka at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Defending champions Australia, England, Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka are the other participant nations.
India and Pakistan will meet again in June next year, when they play their Group 1 match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the United Kingdom.
The match will be played at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham at 13:30 GMT.
The tournament, which was last won by New Zealand in 2024, will be held at seven venues across England and Wales.
Hosts England will play Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in the tournament opener on June 12 at 17:30 GMT.
Twelve teams, divided into two groups, will participate.
Group 1 comprises Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa and two qualifiers, which will be decided at the end of the qualifying rounds in 2026.
Group 2 includes England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and two qualifiers.
The semifinals are scheduled for June 30 and July 2 at the Oval cricket ground in London, while Lord’s Cricket Ground will host the final on July 5.
The last meeting between India and Pakistan came at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai on October 6, when India eased to a six-wicket win in the group-stage encounter.
Temba Bavuma avoids being dismissed lbw by Josh Hazlewood after a review shows a surprising spike on the Ultra-edge, with South Africa 66-4 in their first innings in the Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s.
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South Africa’s Marco Jansen juggles the ball before successfully completing the catch at slip to dismiss Australia’s Steve Smith for 66 runs on day one of the ICC Test Championship final at Lord’s.
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Cameron told ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan that applying for arrest warrants for Israeli officials would be like ‘dropping hydrogen bomb’, media report says.
Several United Kingdom lawmakers have criticised the previous government over allegations in a recent media report that former Foreign Secretary David Cameron “privately threatened” to defund and withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its plans to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The report, published on Monday by the UK-based outlet Middle East Eye (MEE), cited sources with knowledge of a phone call Cameron allegedly made to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan on April 23, 2024, after he had given advance notice of his intention to apply for the warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
MEE’s report cited unnamed sources, including former staff in Khan’s office, and had seen minutes of the conversation, claiming that Cameron warned the arrest warrants, which were issued in November that year, would be – in quotes reported by the sources – tantamount to “dropping a hydrogen bomb”, warning that if the ICC went ahead, the UK would “defund the court and withdraw from the Rome Statute”.
Khan reportedly stood his ground, with sources telling MEE that he said afterwards that he did not like “being pressurised”. “I won’t say if it rises to blackmail – I don’t like being threatened,” he reportedly said, adding that the government was “debasing” the UK with its clear attack on the independence of the court and the rule of international law.
Neither Khan nor Cameron, who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016, and now sits in the House of Lords as a life peer, has commented on the report.
Following the report’s publication, Labour Party MP Zarah Sultana said on X that Cameron “and every UK minister complicit in arming and enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza” should be investigated.
David Cameron — and every UK minister complicit in arming and enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza — must be investigated for war crimes. https://t.co/YYcsmFg1BN
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) June 9, 2025
Scottish National Party MP Chris Law said the allegations were “shocking”, but added the country was “not seeing much better under Labour”.
Shocking that the UK Tory govt tried to undermine the International Criminal Court for investigating those responsible for war crimes in Gaza. However not seeing much better under Labour #GazaGenocide https://t.co/Wd3nK9UkhV
— Chris Law MP (@ChrisLawSNP) June 9, 2025
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP, called for an “independent inquiry into the UK’s role in the Gaza genocide”.
Concerning new allegations, which suggest the last foreign secretary tried to shield Israeli leaders from facing justice for war crimes.
We need an independent inquiry into the UK’s role in the Gaza genocide.https://t.co/JROBHyqtDo
— Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (@BellRibeiroAddy) June 9, 2025
Zack Polanski, the deputy leader of the Green Party, was cited by MEE as saying: “It’s been clear for all to see that both the former and current government have stood with the oppressors, not the marginalised.”
When the ICC applied for the arrest warrants in May last year, the previous Conservative Party government, a strong backer of Israel, decried the move as “not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in”.
In July, the new Labour government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, dropped the previous Rishi Sunak-led government’s bid to challenge the ICC’s power to seek the warrants, which were issued for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders in November.
EU affirms its unwavering support for the ICC, denouncing US sanctions as a threat to judicial independence and justice.
The European Union “deeply regrets” the United States sanctions placed on four judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC), European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday announced sanctions on four judges whom the US accuses of taking “illegitimate and baseless actions” against the US and its allies.
Responding to the announcement on Friday, von der Leyen said the Hague-based court had the “full support” of the EU.
“The ICC holds perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes to account & gives victims a voice,” von der Leyen said on X on Friday. “It must be free to act without pressure.”
United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said he was “profoundly disturbed” by the US decision.
“Attacks against judges for performance of their judicial functions, at national or international levels, run directly counter to respect for the rule of law and the equal protection of the law – values for which the US has long stood,” Turk said.
“Such attacks are deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice,” he added, calling for the sanctions to be withdrawn.
Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, which represents national governments of the 27 EU member states, also called the court “a cornerstone of international justice” and said its independence and integrity must be protected.
The Commission fully supports the @IntlCrimCourt & its officials.
The ICC holds perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes to account & gives victims a voice.
It must be free to act without pressure.
We will always stand for global justice & the respect of international law.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 6, 2025
The US State Department said the sanctions were issued after the court made decisions to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a separate decision in 2020 to open an investigation into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.
The four sanctioned judges include Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.
EU member Slovenia said it “rejects pressure on judicial institutions” and urged the EU to use its blocking statute.
“Due to the inclusion of a citizen of an EU member state on the sanctions list, Slovenia will propose the immediate activation of the blocking act,” Slovenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on X.
The mechanism lets the EU ban European companies from complying with US sanctions that Brussels deems unlawful. The power has been used in the past to prevent Washington from banning European trade with Cuba and Iran.
Slovenia regrets the announced sanctions by the US🇺🇸 government against 4 judges of the @IntlCrimCourt , including a judge from #Slovenia. SI🇸🇮 rejects pressure on judicial institutions and influence on judicial operations, and courts must act in the interests of law and justice.… pic.twitter.com/xhwBj8XeMz
— MFEA Slovenia (@MZEZ_RS) June 5, 2025
The US sanctions mean the judges are added to a list of specially designated sanctioned individuals. Any US assets they have will be blocked and they are put on an automated screening service used not only by US banks but by many banks worldwide, making it very difficult for sanctioned people to hold or open bank accounts or transfer money.
This is not the first time the US has issued restrictions against an ICC official since Trump returned to office for a second term on January 20.
Shortly after taking office, Trump issued a broad executive order threatening anyone who participates in ICC investigations with sanctions. Critics warned that such sweeping language could pervert the course of justice, for example, by dissuading witnesses from coming forward with evidence.
But Trump argued that the 2024 arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant necessitated such measures.
He also claimed that the US and Israel were “thriving democracies” that “strictly adhere to the laws of war” and that the ICC’s investigations threatened military members with “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.
The U.S. State Department sanctioned International Criminal Court judges Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz Del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou from Benin (pictured here) as well as Beti Hohler of Slovenia. File Photo by Sem Van Der Wal/EPA-EFE
June 6 (UPI) — The United States on Thursday sanctioned four International Criminal Court Judges, citing investigations into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Israeli leaders.
The State Department announced the sanctions against Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz Del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou from Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia over what it described as the court’s effort to “arrest, detain or prosecute a protected person without consent of that person’s country of nationality.”
“We do not take this step lightly,” the State Department statement said. “It reflects the seriousness of the threat we face from the ICC’s politicization and abuse of power.”
The State Department noted that Bossa and Ibanez Carranza had authorized an investigation against U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, while Alapini Gansou and Hohler authorized warrants to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
Neither the United States nor Israel recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court.
“As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions, targeting America or our close ally, Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a statement. “The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies. This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States.”
The sanctions impose a block on “all property and interests in property” of the aforementioned judges, and American citizens are also forbidden, as per the order, from doing any business with the four judges, unless they’ve been issued a precise license issued by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control or are exempt.
The Assembly of States Parties, which serves as the management oversight and legislative body of the ICC, announced Friday in a press release that it rejects the orders put forth by Trump and Rubio.
“Such actions risk undermining global efforts to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes of concern to the international community and erode the shared commitment to the rule of law, the fight against impunity, and the preservation of a rules-based international order,” it said.
European Union Council President Antonio Costa said via social media Friday that the EU “strongly supports” the ICC.
“We must protect its independence and integrity. The rule of law must prevail over the rule of power,” he said.
The sanctions follow an executive order from Trump issued in February that considered “any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute protected persons” a threat to American national security and foreign policy, and declared economic sanctions against the ICC.
The order’s measures include the blocking of property and assets, and the suspension of entry to the United States of ICC officials, employees and agents, as well as their immediate family members.
Hostages and Missing Families Forum called for a ‘return to the negotiating table’.
Families of Israeli captives held in Gaza have intensified their criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid large protests across the country, as the expanded military ground offensive and deadly bombardment in the Palestinian territory put the release of their loved ones at risk.
On Saturday, protesters took to the streets in Tel Aviv, Shar HaNegev Junction, Kiryat Gat, and Jerusalem, with members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum accusing the Israeli government of prioritising its war over securing the return of their relatives.
“We demand that the decision-makers return to the negotiating table and not leave it until an agreement is reached that will bring them all back,” the group said in a statement on Saturday.
Among those speaking at a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday was Einav Zangauker, the mother of captive Matan Zangauker, who directly addressed Netanyahu: “Tell me, Mr Prime Minister: How do you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. How do you look in the mirror knowing that you’re abandoning 58 hostages?”
The mounting anger among families has only deepened in recent days following Netanyahu’s nomination of Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
Zini has reportedly voiced opposition to any deal to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, telling colleagues during Israeli military meetings: “I oppose hostage deals. This is a forever war,” according to Israel’s Channel 12.
“The families of the kidnapped are outraged by the words of Major General Zini. If the publication is true, these are shocking and condemnable words coming from someone who will be the one to decide the fate of the kidnapped men and women,” the forum said in a statement on Friday.
“Appointing a Shin Bet chief who puts Netanyahu’s war before the abduction of the kidnapped is tantamount to committing a crime and doing injustice to the entire people of Israel,” the group said.
Netanyahu’s decision to appoint Zini came just one day after Israel’s Supreme Court found his attempt to fire outgoing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to be “unlawful”, citing a conflict of interest tied to Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial.
Despite the court ruling that Netanyahu could not appoint a replacement, he proceeded with the appointment of Zini anyway.
The attorney general later warned that the prime minister had defied legal guidance and tainted the appointment process.
The criticism comes as Netanyahu still faces an international arrest warrant request from the International Criminal Court over war crimes committed during the Gaza war.