The British government privately threatened to defund and withdraw from the International Criminal Court if it issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, Middle East Eye can reveal. 

David Cameron, then foreign secretary in Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, made the threat in April 2024 in a heated phone call with Karim Khan, the British chief prosecutor of the court.

Less than a month later, Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-defence minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif.

In a statement at the time, Khan called for his office and the court to be allowed to carry out their work with “full independence and impartiality”.

“I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate, or improperly influence the officials of this Court must cease immediately,” he said.

MEE understands that on 16 March 2024, Khan’s extensive team of lawyers and researchers had decided they would be in a position to apply for warrants by the end of April.

On 25 March, Khan informed the US administration of his decision and forewarned them the warrants would be applied for by the end of April.

Then on 15 April in London, the prosecutor told British Justice Secretary Alex Chalk that he would apply for the warrants. Khan had asked to meet the foreign secretary, but Cameron was out of the country.

Cameron, a former British prime minister who was appointed foreign secretary by Sunak in November 2023, phoned Khan while the prosecutor was on an official visit to Venezuela on 23 April.

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”.

Article 127 of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding charter, allows countries to withdraw by written notification to the secretary-general of the UN.