“We never accept any kind of pressure,” Tomoko Akane, a judge from Japan and the ICC’s president, said during the ongoing summit. Critics of the warrants often cite doubts about Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor who requested and secured them. This year, the court has rejected an Israeli request to quash the warrants, then an Israeli appeal against that rejection. The U.S. and many of Israel’s other allies, for instance, have previously welcomed an ICC warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over accusations of war crimes in Ukraine. Additionally, the ICC judges cited Israeli attacks that appeared directed at civilians, another potential war crime.
