Former ICC prosecutor says Mossad chief pressured her to stop investigating Israel war crimes

Former ICC prosecutor says Mossad chief pressured her to stop investigating Israel war crimes Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 05/26/2026 - 10:06 Fatou Bensouda says she 'felt left alone' and 'unsupported' as the Dutch government failed to protect her during intimidation campaign over Palestine case Then ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda during the closing statements of the trial of former Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda in the Hague, Netherlands, 28 August 2018 (AFP) Off Former International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said the then-head of Israel 's Mossad intelligence agency pressured her in a series of meetings to drop her investigation into alleged war crimes in occupied Palestine. Bensouda, who served as the ICC’s chief prosecutor from 2012 to 2021, said unidentified men came to her home in The Hague after she opened a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine in 2015. "They came directly to my house," Bensouda told Al Jazeera in an interview published on Sunday. "I got the message that they’re sending." She said the men handed her an envelope containing $500 and indicated it was from someone she had helped. Bensouda said she later concluded the gesture was intended to show that those behind it knew where she lived. Bensouda said she reported the incident to ICC security and Dutch authorities. According to her account, investigators traced telephone numbers associated with the visitors to Israel, though she said no further action appeared to have been taken. "I felt left alone. I felt unsupported," she said. The former prosecutor also described meetings with then-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, including one in a New York hotel duri...

Original source: Middle East Eye