Key Takeaways:
- The ICC prosecutor Karim Khan is under investigation for multiple sexual misconduct allegations, with two accusers and an independent UN-led inquiry already in place; none of this originated from Israel.
- The Mail on Sunday published a baseless conspiracy theory claiming Mossad engineered the allegations, despite offering zero evidence and pushing contradictory, speculative claims.
- Verified reporting instead shows Qatar-linked actors sought to discredit Khan’s accuser, while the Mail’s narrative relies on classic anti-Israel tropes portraying Israel as a hidden puppet-master behind global events.
Karim Ahmad Khan KC, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), temporarily stepped aside in May 2025 following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.
As the ICC’s top prosecutor, Khan oversaw the controversial issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 – a decision the United States criticized for “troubling process errors.”
Against this backdrop, on November 9, 2025, The Mail on Sunday published an extraordinary and completely baseless report suggesting that Israel’s Mossad may have engineered the sexual assault allegations against Khan to discredit him and derail the ICC’s pursuit of Israeli leaders.
Before examining the newspaper’s bizarre conspiracy theory, it’s worth setting out what we know so far.
The Allegations: A Timeline
2023–24: A lawyer in her 30s working in the ICC Office of the Prosecutor alleges that, over several months during this period, Khan subjected her to unwanted sexual advances and abuse of authority, and that in December 2023 she was coerced into sexual intercourse.
May 2024: The ICC’s Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM) is formally notified of the allegations.
October 2024: A whistleblower anonymously discloses the allegations on social media.
November 2024: The Assembly of States Parties (ASP) – the ICC’s management and legislative body – announces that an external investigation will be conducted by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
May 2025: Khan steps aside pending the investigation.
August 2025: A second woman, who had interned under Khan, tells The Guardian he made unwanted sexual advances and pressured her in an abuse of his power.
November 2025: The Guardian reveals that a Qatar-linked intelligence and advisory network had gathered personal data on the first complainant and her family in an attempt to discredit her – efforts that failed to uncover any Israeli connection.
This is a condensed summary of the on-record facts as of November 2025.
Mail on Sunday Spreads Conspiratorial Guff
For reasons known only to its editors, The Mail on Sunday has chosen to advance an extraordinary theory: that Mossad may have orchestrated the sexual-misconduct allegations against Khan to sabotage the ICC’s cases against Israel.
The paper claims “many believe” the accusations could be a “Mossad dark operation,” alleging the complainant might have been “a plant” recruited to entrap Khan. It compares the alleged plot to Israel’s 2024 “exploding pager” strike on Hezbollah, implying the intelligence service could have planned such an operation years before the October 2023 Hamas massacre even occurred.
The article recycles an old 2023 claim that Israel spied on Khan’s predecessor Fatou Bensouda – an accusation Israel denied – and treats a single Hebrew word (“phones”) found in an anonymous 2024 email as suspicious “evidence” of Israeli involvement, even while conceding Mossad would hardly be careless enough to leave such a clue.
It also insinuates that journalists “close to Israel” were seeded with the whistleblower’s email, and speculates about the recent revelations of a Qatar-funded operation that gathered intelligence on Khan’s accuser.
Throughout, the article offers no concrete evidence linking Israel or Mossad to any of these events, relying instead on anonymous sources, conjecture, and wild speculation.
The Narrative Falls Apart
What The Mail on Sunday presents as investigative reporting quickly unravels into incoherence. Having floated the idea that Israel masterminded the scandal, the paper then suggests Qatar – Hamas’ chief sponsor – was also spying on the Mail on Sunday because it had disclosed the misconduct allegations against Khan in 2024. It condemns the idea that Mossad would be “sloppy,” yet simultaneously argues that a Hebrew word in an email could amount to proof of Israeli involvement.
The timeline itself is impossible: the alleged assault occurred nearly a year before the ICC pursued warrants against Israel, making it absurd to suggest the Mossad foresaw the political fallout of a future legal decision.
And in its confusion, the story manages to portray Khan’s accuser as both a victim and a foreign agent – a contradiction that reveals how far the paper must stretch to maintain its conspiracy.
The Bottom Line
HonestReporting takes no position on the ongoing investigation into Karim Khan’s alleged misconduct, which remains before international oversight bodies. But it is entirely fair to call out the Mail on Sunday’s reckless and unfounded reporting.
By weaving Mossad into an unsubstantiated plot about sexual assault allegations, the paper indulges in a classic antisemitic trope – turning Israel into the hidden hand behind global scandals, without offering a single verifiable fact.
The only substantiated developments are those confirmed by the ICC and The Guardian: two formal complaints, an independent UN investigation, and evidence of Qatari interference – not Israeli.
The Mail on Sunday should retract this baseless story in full. Anything less would be an abdication of journalistic responsibility.
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