Britain Threatened To Withdraw From ICC Over Israel War Crimes Probe

Hungary created a stir when in early April it withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC), expressing outrage over The Hague-based court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

But a new report has revealed that Britain too had threatened to defund and withdraw from the ICC if it issued the arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders.

A fresh report in Middle East Eye has revealed that then foreign secretary David Cameron made the threat in April 2024. This reportedly came during a tense and angry phone call with the British chief prosecutor of the court, Karim Khan.

While this UK threat had not been made public at the time, a statement by Khan had warned, “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this Court must cease immediately.”

He urged that the court must be allowed to carry out their work with “full independence and impartiality.” Thus it seems that ‘interference’ in part came from London, though it was widely assumed at the time that it was only Israeli officials trying to sabotage the court’s work.

According to details revealed in Middle East Eye:

MEE can reveal details of the call based on information from a number of sources – including former staff in Khan’s office familiar with the conversation and who have seen the minutes of the meeting.

Cameron told Khan that applying for warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant would be “like dropping a hydrogen bomb”.

Cameron said it was one thing to investigate and prosecute Russia for a “war of aggression” on Ukraine, but quite another to prosecute Israel when it was “defending itself from the attacks of 7 October”.

He claimed the warrants would have “profound implications” in Britain and within his own Conservative Party. Cameron then said that if the ICC issued warrants for Israeli leaders, the UK would “defund the court and withdraw from the Rome Statute”.

Of course, Britain didn’t actually end up withdrawing, but the episode underscores the total loyalty that the US and UK have for their ally Israel, and that their essentially seems to be a ‘blank check’ for Tel Aviv’s actions.

Cameron while secretly clashing with the ICC’s Khan had at one point questioned why the ICC wouldn’t prosecute Iranian leaders for launching attacks on Israel. Cameron charged the the ICC was “losing the plot”.