Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s disgraced chief prosecutor, was “crooked,” responding to reports that Qatar had offered him a quid pro quo for issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli figures.
“Qatar launched an intelligence operation & promised to ‘look after’ Karim Khan over targeting Israel,” the MFA tweeted.
“Buying off the ICC Prosecutor,” the MFA added. “A crooked prosecutor. A corrupted court.”
A witness statement seen by The Wall Street Journal claims that Doha offered to take care of Khan if he pursued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the newspaper revealed on Monday. The statement was by “a person familiar with that operation who requests anonymity,” it said.
The claims build on earlier reporting about a private intelligence effort by the Highgate and Elicius Intelligence firms, which The Guardian last year identified as having been involved in Qatari-led efforts to discredit one of the women who accused Khan of sexual abuse.
In newly-surfaced audio recordings, which the Journal said were known to American authorities, the intelligence operation’s manager describes an alleged arrangement in which Khan, described as having been fearful of requesting the warrants, was reassured by “Q country” that support would follow if he proceeded.
“It’s not that long that they wrapped their arms around him,” the intelligence manager says in the recording, according to the report. “It’s all in the context of issuing the warrant. That was basically the deal.”
The manager was then asked whether the support came from an individual sheikh or the Qatari government. He responded, “No, it’s the state.”
“I spoke to the client about it,” the manager also says, in an apparent reference to Qatar. “They weren’t surprised that it had leaked that they were wrapping their arms around him.”
The Guardian revealed in November 2025 that the intelligence firms obtained private information about one of Khan’s accusers, including her passport details, flight information and the birth certificate of her child, in an effort to undermine her credibility. The operation, commissioned by a high-level government office in Qatar, reportedly also unsuccessfully sought to establish connections between the woman and Israel.
The statement obtained by the Journal suggests that the effort may also have targeted others, including Tom Lynch—the senior ICC official who first reported the allegations against Khan—and Senator Lindsey Graham.
Two sources familiar with the matter told the Journal that several ICC officials identified as targets were interviewed by the counter-terrorism of The Netherlands, where the court is based.
“Totally Corrupt ‘Prosecutor.’ Totally Corrupt ‘Court,’” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tweeted on Tuesday in response to the expose.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in a statement denounced the ICC as a “corrupt and morally bankrupt institution that should be closed.”
“It was clear from Day 1 that there was no merit to the absurd accusations against the State of Israel and Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu,” the PMO stated.
“Israel waged a just war by just means against a terrorist organization that slaughtered our people,” the statement continued. “The ICC is a corrupt court that serves as a lawfare platform used by rogue regimes.”
The ICC’s member states voted earlier this month to move ahead with disciplinary proceedings against Khan. A report by United Nations investigators, a summary of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal, found a “factual basis” for the allegations of sexual assault made by a female aide and noted that witness accounts “lend support to her claims.”
In November 2024, the ICC, at Khan’s behest, issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged Gaza war crimes.
In May 2025, Khan took a leave of absence pending the outcome of an investigation from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services over allegations that he repeatedly assaulted a Malaysian colleague.
A second woman came forward in August, telling The Guardian that Khan abused his power as a top ICC lawyer and subjected her to a “constant onslaught” of unwanted advances while she worked on an internship for him in 2009.
The sexual misconduct allegations claim that Khan asked the first woman, the Malaysian colleague, not to accuse him of sexual assault so he could issue the arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
