Audio tapes have revealed that late US Senator Lindsey Graham and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu schemed to delay International Criminal Courts (ICC) warrants using sexual misconduct allegations against prosecutor Karim Khan.

Newly revealed audio recordings from 2024 show that Netanyahu and Graham conspiring to use sexual misconduct allegations against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to delay arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

British filmmaker Alex Holder recorded the phone calls while following Graham around for three years for a documentary on his relations with US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu.

During a call on October 29, 2024, weeks before the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu noted that court judges would be “making the decision very soon.” Netanyahu stated that sexual misconduct allegations against Khan created “the great cloud that it shed” which could help delay warrants.

Netanyahu suggested that Graham send a letter to the court alongside fellow politicians. “I suggest that you send a letter, with, maybe some other senators.”

Graham agreed to recruit Democrats. Later that day, Graham confirmed, “We got them both,” referring to Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ben Cardin. “So send me over whatever you want to say.”

Graham joked about compensation, telling Netanyahu, “I should get tons of shekels.” Graham added that dinner was insufficient and asked Netanyahu to call Blumenthal and Cardin and “thank them for being fair-minded and also thank them for trying to help with Saudi-Israel normalisation.”

The senators sent the letter on November 1, 2024. The letter failed to delay the judges, who issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on November 21, 2024.

Netanyahu previously claimed Khan used warrants to cover up misconduct allegations. However, records show that Khan informed Washington DC of plans to seek warrants weeks before Khan learned of the misconduct claims against him.

Prior to the warrant applications on May 1, 2024, Graham threatened Khan during a call with ICC officials, saying, “You may as well shoot the hostages yourself” and warned “We will sanction you.”

Graham claimed that the court was “made for Africa and thugs like Putin, not democracies like Israel.” Former ICC prosecutor Andrew Cayley recalled Graham “Screaming at us.”

Graham later stated that senators urged Khan “to respect the principle of complementarity and to engage in good faith with Israeli officials before making any decision as to how to move forward against the State of Israel.”

Eighty-two of 125 ICC member states voted in a secret ballot to remove Khan from his position. In March, an ICC judicial panel cleared Khan, ruling that the evidence did “not establish misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant framework.”

Despite the ruling, member states acted on a United Nations (UN) report, concluding Khan “Engaged in a sexual relationship” where “In the context of that power imbalance a sexual relationship could never be appropriate.” Khan denied any sexual relationship.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese posted online, “Khan’s removal lines up neatly with the fight to neutralise Netanyahu’s arrest warrant. Coincidence is a luxury intl law can no longer afford.”

Following Khan’s removal, Netanyahu posted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed Washington’s goal to target the court, calling the ICC an organization that “undermines justice, attacks democratic and sovereign nations, and seeks to subordinate their security to the decisions of unaccountable and corrupt officials in The Hague.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar directed a task force lobbying member states against Khan, while Rubio declared Washington would “dismantle the ICC – brick by brick, if necessary.”