Israel Targeted Hague Lawyer’s Family in Spying Operation: Report

The Israeli government has been surveilling International Criminal Court (ICC) officials for nearly a decade as part of an underground effort to threaten and intervene in the ICC’s probe into alleged war crimes, according to an investigation from +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian. The operation, which involved hacking and several Israeli intelligence agencies, allegedly targeted the ICC chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda. The reports allege that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad ran point on an operation aimed at collecting compromising information on Bensouda and her family, as part of an effort to sway her opinion and align the probe in its favor. Bensouda felt personally threatened by the apparent pressure campaign, and even feared for her safety, according to the reports. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself was “obsessed, obsessed, obsessed” with the secret operation, one source said. The revelation comes days after Khan announced the court is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, warning “all attempts to impede, intimidate, or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.”