'Target Israel and We Will Target You': ICC Chief Exposes Explosive Death Threats From US Senators Over Israel War Crime Files

A viral post has dragged a 2024 threat against the International Criminal Court back into the spotlight, reviving scrutiny of the blunt warning a dozen US senators sent the court's chief prosecutor: 'target Israel and we will target you.'

The post, shared on 28 June 2026 by a commentary account, frames ICC prosecutor Karim Khan as having 'blown the lid off' Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, and puts a lengthy quote in his mouth about threats to his family.

That specific wording could not be independently verified and should be read with caution. The underlying facts it draws on, however, are real and documented, and they run in a direction many of the post's sharers may not realise.

The One-Page Warning Sent to The Hague

The threat at the centre of the story did not come from Khan. It came from twelve Republican senators in a one-page letter dated 24 April 2024. 'Target Israel and we will target you,' they wrote, telling Khan that any warrant against Israel's leadership would be read 'not only as a threat to Israel's sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States.' The full text was published by the Council on Foreign Relations.

The senators spelled out the consequences they had in mind. 'If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States,' the letter read, before closing with two words: 'You have been warned.'

The letter, obtained exclusively by Zeteo, was led by Senator Tom Cotton and signed by Mitch McConnell, Marsha Blackburn, Katie Britt, Ted Budd, Kevin Cramer, Ted Cruz, Bill Hagerty, Pete Ricketts, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott and Tim Scott.

They grounded the warning in existing US law, reminding Khan of the American Service-Members' Protection Act of 2002, a statute nicknamed 'The Hague Invasion Act' because it authorises the president to use 'all means necessary and appropriate' to free Americans or allies held by the court. Britt asked about the letter, told Zeteo it was 'not a threat' but 'a promise.'

How the Prosecutor's Office Answered Its Critics

The court's reply came on 3 May 2024, and it named no one. In a public statement, the Office of the Prosecutor said its independence was undermined 'when individuals threaten to retaliate against the Court or against Court personnel.' Such threats, it added, 'even when not acted upon, may also constitute an offence against the administration of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute.'

Article 70 is a real and tested provision. As the ICC's own case record shows, the court has prosecuted people for offences against the administration of justice, which include intimidating or retaliating against court officials.

The statement reported by Jurist urged that all attempts to impede or improperly influence its officials cease immediately, though it stopped well short of any move against the senators themselves.

What Khan Has Said About the Threats

Khan broke his long silence in April 2026 after a UN investigation into unrelated misconduct allegations against him concluded. In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, he confirmed that US Senator Lindsey Graham had warned him of consequences, recalling a conversation that was 'quite cordial until the point where he said, 'If you do what I've heard you're going to do, there'll be certain consequences.' He described a wider effort he called a 'dangerous' attempt by states to push him out.

In a separate interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan, documented by Justice Info, Khan confirmed that then-UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron had threatened that Britain would withdraw from and defund the ICC if it pursued warrants for Israeli officials, calling it 'a very difficult conversation'. Asked why Netanyahu had not been given a pass, Khan replied, 'Nobody's got a pass. The law applies to all.'

Reporting on the sanctions has noted that they reached his family, with his children's US visas revoked, the genuine basis for the 'my family' theme now circulating online.

The warnings did not deter the prosecutor. On 20 May 2024, Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders, and in November 2024, the court issued warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and the Hamas commander Mohammed Deif over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel has rejected the warrants and denied the allegations.

The threatened retaliation then materialised. In February 2025, after President Trump signed an executive order targeting the court, the US Treasury sanctioned Khan personally, and his two deputies and several judges were later added. The fallout reached his inbox, with Microsoft cutting off his official email account and forcing the ICC towards open-source systems. A group of UN experts had warned in May 2024, through the UN human rights office, that threats against the court and its officials' families exceeded the accepted limits of free expression. Marco Rubio, a signatory of the 2024 letter, is now the US Secretary of State.

A viral clip may have got the direction of the threat backwards, but the documented record is plain: the warning went to The Hague, and the sanctions that followed landed on a prosecutor and his children.