The ICC removed Karim Khan from his own investigation in Venezuela. Now Israel wants it to do the same over Gaza

A US-based group which successfully forced International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to recuse himself from an investigation into Venezuela urged the Trump administration to sanction ICC judges and accused Khan of “acting in unprecedented haste” in seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

Khan was ordered by the court to step back from his office’s investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela in August following a complaint of a conflict of interest by the Washington-based Arcadia Foundation which was upheld by the ICC’s appeals chamber.

That ruling could now have a bearing on the prosecutor’s investigation into Israeli leaders because the same court is currently considering a similar complaint by Israel calling for Khan to be removed and for warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant to be dropped because of questions, according to Israel's submission to the court, about Khan’s impartiality.

Arcadia, which is recognised by the ICC as an organisation representing Venezuelan victims, accused Khan of a conflict of interest because his sister-in-law, Venkateswari Alagendra, is part of the legal team representing the Venezuelan government and has worked with the prosecutor in previous cases.

In February the ICC's appeals chamber initially dismissed the complaint. Responding to the ruling on social media, Arcadia's CEO, Robert Carmona-Borjas, said he would write to the Trump administration to call on it to sanction the judges who voted to dismiss it. His comments came days after the US had imposed sanctions on Khan and threatened further measures against the court and its officials.

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