Double Down News just posted a 20 minute interview with Francesca Albanese on YouTube.
Watch it here.
Last week, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, was removed over sexual misconduct allegations. An official investigation failed to establish these allegations as fact.
Khan, with the backing of the ICC, issued an arrest warrant against Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu and defence minister Gallant (as well as key Hamas figures). Now it appears Israel played a key role in getting Khan removed.
Of course, the US also sanctioned Khan and many others within the ICC and is now actively seeking to dismantle the court.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories and herself sanctioned by the US for her work, frames Khan’s dismissal in a new light.
She does not excuse the alleged misconduct (neither do I, to be clear) but points to the entire process and what has happened behind the scenes. Something’s not right here.
While the ICC is not a European or EU court, to me the silence of European and EU leaders is unforgivable. There’s has been virtually no response to any of the sanctions nor to the back door actions of hostile parties such as Israel and the US. There’s been no statements in defence of the ICC after the US public statements seeking to dismantle the court.
In the meantime, the breakdown of international law and institutions (while imperfect) will bring harm to us all.
I have a colleague who works at the court in The Hague. Next to that, I have read the reporting about Kahn and the victim https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jul/16/icc-staffer-talks-publicly-about-alleged-sexual-abuse-by-chief-prosecutor-karim-khan. The evidence against Kahn is simply too strong, and he simply could not be maintained in this job. Apparently the majority of people at the court are happy he is gone.
Everything else is just context.
I’m not claiming it didn’t happen but an investigation was not conclusive enough to establish this beyond any reasonable doubt. Not quite that overwhelming.
What does seem clear, however, is that these allegations regardless of their veracity seem to have been (ab)used by Israel and the US to get rid of the one person trying to hold Israel accountable for its actions.
What is certainly clear is that no European or EU leader could be bothered to stand up for the ICC and demand indisputable clarity of Khan’s conduct.
The whole thing is muddy and disturbing. I am not saying Khan’s removal wasn’t the right decision, but the way that decision was ultimately made is incredibly problematic and likely will have wider consequences.
From how these cases evolve, most likely at some time point there will be a court case; we have seen that happening (Epstein, Weinstein… there is always a bit of delay). In the meantime, the ICC’s new prosecutor will settle into the job and prosecute people. And yes, Trumpee will try to destroy the ICC, but he is trying to destroy so many things I’ve lost count. The ICC has full support of 125 countries (who are, understandably, keeping quiet, Kahn has become a liability), the USA and Israel never were among them.