UK didn’t blitz the IRA Karim Khan ICC Chief Prosecutor Interview

[Social Media]

In a first major interview since he announced he would request arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan dismisses as “nonsense” accusations that he was equating the actions of Israel and the terror group. “I am not saying that Israel with its democracy and its supreme court is akin to Hamas, of course not. I couldn’t be clearer, Israel has every right to protect its population and to get the hostages back. But nobody has a license to commit war crimes or crimes against humanity. The means define us,”

 

As someone with personal experience of persecution, Khan understands the importance of impartiality and the rule of law. “What this comes down to is, ‘Do we want to live in a world where law is applied equally or one where we close our eyes and turn away because of our allegiances?’” Khan stated emphatically. He added, “Of course one is aware that Gaza is on the faultline of international relations but that cannot be an excuse not to try everywhere to put the rights of victims first. Whether those are the rights of Jewish victims or Palestinians, whether Muslim, Christian or of no belief, we must have the same moral outrage, love, care and concern—the point is they are all human beings.”

 

 

On Monday, Khan’s announcement accused Netanyahu and Gallant, along with Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Mohammed Deif), and Ismail Haniyeh, of crimes against humanity. This marks the first time the ICC has targeted a sitting western-backed leader, igniting a wave of international outrage. Both UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden criticized the decision, with Sunak calling it “deeply unhelpful” and Biden labeling it “outrageous.”

 

Khan responded to his critics by saying, “Our job is not to make friends. It’s to do our job whether we are applauded or condemned. We have to underline the equal worth of every child, every woman, every civilian in a world that is increasingly polarized and if we don’t do that, what’s the point of us?” The warrants, pending approval by the ICC’s judges, could impose significant constraints on Israel’s leadership. Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which lacks enforcement mechanisms, an ICC warrant would obligate all 124 signatory countries to arrest Netanyahu if he enters their territories. This includes key Israeli allies within the European Union.

“If states don’t step up, it has massive implications,” Khan warned. “The ICC is their child—I am just the nanny or hired help. They have a choice to look after this child or be responsible for its abandonment.”

 

 

Khan’s decision follows visits to Israel, where he witnessed the aftermath of the October 7 attack and met with victims' relatives. He carries a blue wristband with the slogan “Bring Them Home” and the silver dog-tag of Kfir Bibas, a nine-month-old baby who Hamas claims was killed by an IDF air strike but there has been no confirmation of this. “This would break anyone’s heart,” he said. “Kfir was just nine months old. But there’s no monopoly on suffering. There are Palestinian babies dying and we cannot have double standards.”

 

The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include causing extermination and/or murder, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict, and using starvation as a weapon of war—a first for the ICC. Hamas leaders are accused of extermination, murder, taking hostages, and sexual assault. Despite the severity of the charges, Khan was careful to clarify, “I am not saying that Israel with its democracy and its supreme court is akin to Hamas, of course not. I couldn’t be clearer, Israel has every right to protect its population and to get the hostages back. But nobody has a license to commit war crimes or crimes"

 

 

Khan recounted a conversation with a senior official who questioned how Israel could act given the unknown whereabouts of hostages. Khan compared the situation to Britain’s response to IRA terrorism, saying, “There were attempts to kill Margaret Thatcher, Airey Neave was blown up, Lord Mountbatten was blown up, there was the Enniskillen attack, we had kneecappings … But the British didn’t decide to say, ‘Well, on the Falls Road [the heart of Catholic Belfast] there undoubtedly may be some IRA members and Republican sympathizers, so therefore let’s drop a 2,000lb bomb on the Falls Road.’ You can’t do that.”

 

He stressed, “Law must have some purpose, that’s what separates states that respect the law from criminal groups and terrorists. And that’s all I have been trying to do, apply law based on facts, and that’s what we must do whatever condemnation we get.” Khan is perplexed by the surprise at his announcement, given his consistent warnings since October 7. “I’ve been saying continuously since October 7, ‘Comply now, don’t complain later.’ I said it in Rafah when I wasn’t allowed in by Israel. I said it in Cairo, said it in public statements and said it directly to the Israelis and Palestinians. So I just don’t know why anyone is surprised.”

 

As he spoke from his office in The Hague, Khan, 54, appeared visibly exhausted. “Every day one gets emails, other types of threats and pressure, direct and otherwise,” he admitted. However, having previously taken on Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, Khan is undeterred by the challenges. Born in Edinburgh to a British mother and Pakistani father, Khan grew up in Yorkshire where his father worked as a consultant dermatologist. He attended Silcoates School, a private institution in West Yorkshire, and later studied law at King’s College London. His family belongs to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which faces persecution in Pakistan. “I’ve had family members killed, shot in Lahore when mosques were attacked,” he shared.

 

 

In 1989, while Khan was studying law, his family experienced violence firsthand. “My father, my mother, my younger brother and my cousin, who is a doctor, were all attacked,” he recalled. “They were having an interfaith event at Batley town hall and mullahs came from Pakistan and attacked. They knocked my cousin unconscious, hit my father and mother, and when the police took them into the station next door, a mullah stood on an ambulance and said we will burn down the police station unless you release our people.”

 

This personal history of persecution and violence informs Khan’s commitment to justice. He built his career at the Crown Prosecution Service and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, gaining a reputation as a defense lawyer. He represented high-profile clients, including Liberian warlord Charles Taylor and Kenyan President William Ruto, before becoming chief prosecutor of the ICC in 2021. Upon taking office, Khan pledged to reform the ICC, focusing on crimes against children and sexual violence while expanding the court’s geographic reach. “We currently have active investigations in the Philippines, in Afghanistan, in Myanmar and Bangladesh and in Latin America and in Georgia, Ukraine and Palestine,” he noted. “We may not be perfect but we are sincere and guided by evidence not extraneous factors such as political convenience.”

 

Khan’s focus on Gaza stems from the events following October 7, including both Hamas’s attack and Israel’s subsequent military response. He cited various indicators of humanitarian violations, such as the targeting of bakeries and water sources, and the killing of aid workers. “It’s the whole pattern that’s indicative. We’ve analyzed it objectively and rationally,” he asserted. Israel disputes these characterizations, claiming that Hamas has seized much of the aid intended for Gaza. However, Khan pointed to the reports of international relief agencies and medical professionals documenting severe humanitarian crises.

 

 

“Look what all major relief agencies say, what we are seeing of emaciated children. Even if we don’t trust Palestinian doctors, we have American and British doctors speaking of conducting amputations without anesthetics, of babies dying in incubators because the power is turned off, of people dying because there is no insulin,” he said. “This is not how war is supposed to be waged. If this is what compliance with international humanitarian law looks like, then the Geneva Conventions serve no purpose.”

 

To compile the charges, Khan’s team gathered diverse evidence, including witness testimonies, satellite imagery, and authenticated videos. He also enlisted a panel of respected international law experts to independently assess the evidence. Among them were Amal Clooney, Baroness Kennedy KC, Lord Justice Sir Adrian Fulford, Elizabeth Wilmshurst KC, Danny Friedman KC, and Theodor Meron. “These are great lawyers I respect hugely who have stood up for principle throughout their life,” he said. He emphasized the credibility and expertise of the panel, noting, “The fact they have been unanimous that evidence is there is very important.”

 

 

Khan acknowledges that civilian casualties are an unfortunate reality in armed conflict, particularly in urban areas, but he maintains that deliberately targeting civilians is unacceptable. “It’s another thing for civilians to be deliberately targeted. You can’t have as a common plan collective punishment. It’s absolutely legitimate for Israel to have the objective to defeat Hamas and to get hostages out, I support that. But the way you engage must be compliant with law.”

 

 

The debate over casualty figures in Gaza, which recently saw a shift from the UN's endorsement of over 35,000 dead to about 25,000 “identified” dead Palestinians plus an additional unverified 10,000 from Gazan media sources , was dismissed by Khan as a “red herring.” “Even with the lower figure, every one is a tragedy,” he said. Of course this figure is lower still when you take out the Hamas fighters that have also been killed as Gazan Health Authorities makes no distinction between civilian and combatant deaths and casualties.

 

While criticism from some countries such as the UK and the US has been fierce, Khan maintains. “It’s a precarious moment internationally and if we don’t hold on to the law, we have nothing to cling onto,” Khan said. “Those profound words ‘Never Again’ are too often becoming ritual incantations.

 

Credit: Sunday Times 2024-05-27

 

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[Bkk Brian]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

Khan recounted a conversation with a senior official who questioned how Israel could act given the unknown whereabouts of hostages. Khan compared the situation to Britain’s response to IRA terrorism, saying, “There were attempts to kill Margaret Thatcher, Airey Neave was blown up, Lord Mountbatten was blown up, there was the Enniskillen attack, we had kneecappings … But the British didn’t decide to say, ‘Well, on the Falls Road [the heart of Catholic Belfast] there undoubtedly may be some IRA members and Republican sympathizers, so therefore let’s drop a 2,000lb bomb on the Falls Road.’ You can’t do that.”

Fail. There is no comparison to Hamas and the IRA. It shows Karim Khan ignorance on the situation completely. 

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

This marks the first time the ICC has targeted a sitting western-backed leader, igniting a wave of international outrage.

Shouldn't that be "a wave of western leader's outrage". I doubt many other countries are outraged, and more likely approving of the proposed arrest warrants. IMO only western leaders are excusing atrocities that if done by a certain other country would be eliciting outrage from those same leaders that excuse israel for the same crimes. I also say "western leaders" as it's apparent that many citizens of western countries do not approve of israeli actions.

[placeholder]

On 5/27/2024 at 8:40 AM, Bkk Brian said:

Fail. There is no comparison to Hamas and the IRA. It shows Karim Khan ignorance on the situation completely. 

You have a point. The Catholics in Northern Ireland weren't being nearly as badly mistreated by the Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland govt  as the Palestinians were and are being mistreated by the Israel govt.

[Bkk Brian]

8 minutes ago, placeholder said:

You have a point. The Catholics in Northern Ireland weren't being nearly as badly mistreated by the Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland govt  as the Palestinians were and are being mistreated by the Israel govt.

Few more points:

[placeholder]

Just now, Bkk Brian said:

Few more points:

On 5/27/2024 at 8:40 AM, Bkk Brian said:

Fail. There is no comparison to Hamas and the IRA. It shows Karim Khan ignorance on the situation completely. 

Telll that to all the iinnocent civilians in the UK who were the victims of IRA violence.

And, of course, the treatment of the Catholics in Northern Ireland is as nothing compared to the way Israel has treated the Palestinians in Gaza.

Inevitably, the more vicious the repression, the more vicious the counter-force.

The velociraptors have come home to roost. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

Just now, placeholder said:

Telll that to all the iinnocent civilians in the UK who were the victims of IRA violence.

And, of course, the treatment of the Catholics in Northern Ireland is as nothing compared to the way Israel has treated the Palestinians in Gaza.

Inevitably, the more vicious the repression, the more vicious the counter-force.

The velociraptors have come home to roost. 

 

I was in the UK when bombs were going off, I was 100 meters away from the Harrods bomb. I can tell you the IRA had nothing on Hamas. The IRA nearly always gave warning before detonating bombs to give the opportunity for civilians to evacuate first. Does Hamas do that?

[placeholder]

58 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

I was in the UK when bombs were going off, I was 100 meters away from the Harrods bomb. I can tell you the IRA had nothing on Hamas. The IRA nearly always gave warning before detonating bombs to give the opportunity for civilians to evacuate first. Does Hamas do that?

The worse the repression the worse the response. And I can tell you that the British govt had nothing on the Israeli govt.

[Bkk Brian]

Just now, placeholder said:

The worse the repression the worse the response. And I can tell you that the British govt had nothing on the Israeli govt.

Tell that to ISIS as it was burning people alive in cages or cutting off their heads. Oh wait, similarities to Hamas.

 

Like I said, no comparison to the IRA and Hamas

 

On 5/27/2024 at 8:40 AM, Bkk Brian said:

Fail. There is no comparison to Hamas and the IRA. It shows Karim Khan ignorance on the situation completely. 

 

[placeholder]

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

Tell that to ISIS as it was burning people alive in cages or cutting off their heads. Oh wait, similarities to Hamas.

 

Like I said, no comparison to the IRA and Hamas

 

 

Typical emotional response. History generally shows that the worse the repression of a native population, the worse the response. Call it Karma.

[Bkk Brian]

Just now, placeholder said:

Typical emotional response. History generally shows that the worse the repression of a native population, the worse the response. Call it Karma.

Here we go, making it personal. Can we stick to facts?

 

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Few more points:

 

[retarius]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/spying-hacking-intimidation-israel-war-icc-exposed

 

Some vile tactics. 

[placeholder]

36 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Here we go, making it personal. Can we stick to facts?

 

 

What personal attack? Your response is clearly an appeal to emotion. Not reason. You have no rational reply to offer to an historical perspective on the situation.

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

What personal attack? Your response is clearly an appeal to emotion. Not reason. You have no rational reply to offer to an historical perspective on the situation.

Read my post, where did I claim you made a personal attack?

39 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Here we go, making it personal. Can we stick to facts?

 

 

 

[placeholder]

57 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Read my post, where did I claim you made a personal attack?

 

So you meant "making it personal" as a good thing? 

Or is this just your way of evading the issue of considering this situation from an historical perspective?

[Bkk Brian]

7 minutes ago, placeholder said:

So you meant "making it personal" as a good thing? 

Or is this just your way of evading the issue of considering this situation from an historical perspective?

I repeat, where did I claim you were making a personal attack? Can you link me to that claim?

 

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Here we go, making it personal. Can we stick to facts?

 

[placeholder]

3 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

I repeat, where did I claim you were making a personal attack? Can you link me to that claim?

 

Criticizing for someone "making it personal" is categorizing it as unfriendly comment. Are you seriously claiming that because you didn't use the words "personal attack" therefore that wasn't what your reply meant. It is to laugh.

And you still are clearly avoiding the issue of an historical perspective. It's clear now, as far as that goes, that you have nothing to offer in the way of a reply.

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

Criticizing for someone "making it personal" is categorizing it as unfriendly comment. Are you seriously claiming that because you didn't use the words "personal attack" therefore that wasn't what your reply meant. It is to laugh.

And you still are clearly avoiding the issue of an historical perspective. It's clear now, as far as that goes, that you have nothing to offer in the way of a reply.

Ok so you can't back up this claim of yours. The reason being because its just not true, stop being so dishonest. 

 

2 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Here we go, making it personal. Can we stick to facts?

 

1 hour ago, placeholder said:

What personal attack? Your response is clearly an appeal to emotion. Not reason. You have no rational reply to offer to an historical perspective on the situation.

 

[placeholder]

2 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Ok so you can't back up this claim of yours. The reason being because its just not true, stop being so dishonest. 

 

I've offered an explanation. All you do, as per usual is denial without actual explanation or engagment. You've got nothing. 

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

I've offered an explanation. All you do, as per usual is denial without actual explanation or engagment. You've got nothing. 

You made a claim you cannot back up and your back again to making it personal. 

[placeholder]

History shows over and over again that regimes that subjugate native peoples, end up being retaliated against in horrible ways. This is what's happening to Israel. And the Israelis refusing to recognize the consequences of their repression doesn't make it any less true.

[Social Media]

Posts contravening community standards have been removed

[Neeranam]

I've been making this comparison for ages. 

Another comparison, if Gaza were the USA, proportionality 2 million kids would have been killed and over 100 million people displaced, actually maybe double that. 

[Stocky]

4 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

The IRA nearly always gave warning before detonating bombs to give the opportunity for civilians to evacuate first.

BS, there was no warning for the Birmingham pub bombings. The IRA were just as indiscriminate and callous as Hamas.

[Neeranam]

10 minutes ago, Stocky said:

BS, there was no warning for the Birmingham pub bombings. The IRA were just as indiscriminate and callous as Hamas.

Of course there was no warning. 

 

[Neeranam]

One terrorist action, de pite being terrible, does Not justify killing tens of thousands of civilians or did placing half a country. 

This is the ICC chief prosecutor talking yet some TV posters are trying to defend the alleged crimes, bizarre. 

[Bkk Brian]

7 minutes ago, Stocky said:

BS, there was no warning for the Birmingham pub bombings. The IRA were just as indiscriminate and callous as Hamas.

I am not defending the IRA by any means, they were a terrorist group who had no sympathy from me but to compare them to Hamas is false. You should also read my post.

 

"The IRA nearly always gave warning before detonating bombs to give the opportunity for civilians to evacuate first."

 

Phone codes that prove bomb threats are real

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/phone-codes-that-prove-bomb-threats-are-real-1275833.html

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

12 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

One terrorist action, de pite being terrible, does Not justify killing tens of thousands of civilians or did placing half a country. 

This is the ICC chief prosecutor talking yet some TV posters are trying to defend the alleged crimes, bizarre. 

Hamas around 764 civilians killed in one day, a lot more had they not been stopped. IRA over 30 years killed about 600 civilians. Can you see a difference here?

[Stocky]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Hamas around 764 civilians killed in one day, a lot more had they not been stopped. IRA over 30 years killed about 600 civilians. Can you see a difference here?

Hamas around 764 civilians killed in one day, the IDF has killed 35,562 Palestinian including 7,797 children, 4,959 women and 1,924 elderly in 6 months. Can you see a difference here?

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Hamas around 764 civilians killed in one day, a lot more had they not been stopped. IRA over 30 years killed about 600 civilians. Can you see a difference here?

What I can see is that you refuse to engage with the notion of payback. As bad as what the Northern Irish suffered, it was not even close to the same league as what Israel has done to the Palestinians since 1967. This is what happens when you oppress the locals. It's not just in Palestine that this kind of vicious and bloody payback occurs. All you have to do is consult history from the 2nd half of the 20th century onwards. Israel has become a disgrace of a democracy empowered by an increasingly bitter and bigoted majority.

Edited May 29 by placeholder