ICC Deputy Prosecutor Says Netanyahu Warrant Stands, No Withdrawal Steps Taken Despite US Sanctions

The arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu is still active, and the International Criminal Court has not moved to touch it.

That was the message from Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan in a weekend interview with CNN, delivered nearly a year into a US sanctions campaign aimed squarely at the office that issued it.

"We have taken no steps to try and withdraw any of those arrest warrant applications or the arrest warrants themselves, and the team continues to investigate in that situation."

The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and his then defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in November 2024, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza since October 2023. Israel, which is not an ICC member state, has since filed appeals challenging the court's jurisdiction over its nationals. Two of those appeals remain pending.

Washington's response has not been limited to diplomatic objection. The United States has sanctioned most of the court's senior leadership over the past two years, including former chief prosecutor Karim Khan, both current deputy prosecutors, and nine judges, among them the court's president. Nazhat Shameem Khan and fellow Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang were sanctioned in August 2025 alongside two judges, a designation that freezes any US-based assets and bars American individuals or companies from providing them funds, goods, or services. Khan said she was never given a reason for the sanction, and attributes it to her role.

According to prior Middle East Eye reporting, the prosecutor's office has not stopped at Netanyahu and Gallant. In May, MEE reported a confidential application seeking arrest for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over alleged crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including forced displacement, the transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territory, and persecution and apartheid. An evidence review was also held on a separate application targeting National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The sanctions campaign has an architect. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in July that the administration would work to "dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if necessary," and in other remarks called the court a "stupid organisation" run by "lunatics and crazies," warning of consequences for any attempt to exercise jurisdiction over Americans. Middle East Eye reports the administration is now preparing broader sanctions against the institution itself, though details of that plan have not been made public.

Khan described a court operating under sustained political pressure without altering course. "The work of the court continues unabated," she said, pointing to trials scheduled for November and next year and two convictions secured over the past year across the ICC's docket, which spans Ukraine, Darfur, Libya, and Afghanistan alongside the Palestine investigation.

"We do feel pressure," Khan said, "but, as I've said, the dedication of our staff is extraordinary, and they continue to do their work."