Middle East Monitor / September 2, 2024
A pro-Israel legal group in the United Kingdom has threatened to press charges against the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, over professional misconduct, claiming that his efforts to to issue arrest warrants against top Israeli officials are based on false premises.
According to the British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, the organization UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote a letter to Khan dated 27 August, in which it attempts to refute Karim Khan’s accusations against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant. Going through each point one by one, the letter provided what it asserted as detailed evidence disproving all the allegations against the top Israeli officials.
Amongst the apparent refutations are those regarding the label of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s imposition of a total siege on the Territory, and the classification of ‘famine’ that large parts of the Gazan population has been undergoing due to that siege.
“We are dismayed to read that you intend to rest on the submissions you advanced in the applications [for the arrest warrants], despite our having shown that every allegation against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant set out in your published summary of them is false, and despite the highly relevant evidence that has emerged since you filed the applications,” the letter read.
Citing new information that has apparently come to light following Khan’s application for the international arrest warrants, which allegedly prove the initial charges to be in error, the UKLFI stated that “We appreciate that this review was published after you filed the applications, but it is now your professional duty to draw it to the attention of the Court, since it contradicts a key allegation on which, according to the Statement, the applications are based.”
The letter added that “With all due respect, this seems to us to manifest a serious lack of integrity on your part. We respectfully urge you to reconsider this position in the light of your professional obligations.”
The organization maintained that, as a British lawyer – labelled a barrister and King’s Counsel in the UK’s legal system – and as a member of the English bar, Khan is subject to the discipline of the Bar Standards Board and is, therefore, obliged to review his application to the ICC.
If the Prosecutor continues to stand by the terms of his original application under the allegedly false information, according to the UKLFI, he would be in breach of several rules applying to English barristers. The letter warned that if Khan does not respond within seven days – by 3 September – then the UKLFI will report him to his professional disciplinary body on charges of professional misconduct.
If Khan were to be charged and found guilty of that accusation, he could potentially – a barrister in the most serious cases – be disbarred and forbidden to practice law under the UK’s legal system.
