ICC Prosecutor Withdraws from Netanyahu’s Arrest Warrants Due to Sexual Misconduct Investigation

JERUSALEM—The scandal-plagued prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been compelled to step down, pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, the court announced Friday. Khan has categorically denied the allegations against him. 

Fox News Digital sent detailed press queries to the ICC and embattled prosecutor Karim Khan on Thursday, asking if the world court planned to oust him and whether he would resign.

The Associated Press reported the court said in a statement that Khan on Friday ″communicated his decision to take leave until the end″ of an external investigation that will be carried by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the U.N. internal watchdog.  

That same report said that women’s rights groups welcomed the move, who had called for him to step down after the allegations emerged last year, but Khan initially resisted leaving.

Hamas fighters stand in formation as Palestinians gather on a street to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Feb. 8, 2025 (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Kontorovich said about the ICC case against Israeli leaders: “This fundamentally undermines the integrity of the case, and in a normal judicial system, would lead not just to these charges being thrown out, but cast doubt on all his prior cases.”

He continued that “Given that the ICC has only managed to secure final convictions against six people for atrocity crimes in its quarter-century of existence, a massive scandal of prosecutorial misconduct should be grounds for shutting down the institution, not just removing the prosecutor.”

When asked if the ICC plans to rescind the arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders, Fadi El-Abdallah, the spokesman for the ICC, told Fox News Digital that “As there is a pending request, I can’t offer comment or speculation on its outcome.”

El-Abdallah referred Fox News Digital to Khan’s media team regarding questions related to his alleged sexual misconduct and allegations he damaged the integrity of the world court.

A general view of the International Criminal Court (ICC) building in The Hague, Netherlands on Apr. 30, 2024.  (Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Israel asked the ICC to withdraw the arrest warrants in early May. 

Fox News Digital previously reported the British chief prosecutor, Khan, published an academic essay in 2013 that suggested his own current effort to arrest Netanyahu would be a travesty of justice because the court cannot provide due process to defendants. 

“Make no mistake: the problem is bigger than Khan. They’re throwing him under the bus to protect the institution and salvage their campaign against Israel. But the rot runs deep. This was never about justice, it was always about a political agenda,” Hillel Neuer, a lawyer and UN Watch Executive Director, told Fox News Digital.

A spokesperson for the United Nations told Fox News Digital that it does not comment on the ICC because it is an independent judicial body.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.