The Psychological Projection of Israel’s Enemies

By Seth Mandel

Thursday, June 11, 2026

 

One emerging, seemingly iron rule about understanding the motivations of Israel’s enemies: If you know the when, you’ll figure out the why.

 

Here are four recent noteworthy items:

 

On May 11, the New York Times published Nick Kristof’s wild accusations that Israel is training dogs to rape Palestinian inmates, along with uncorroborated allegations of state-sanctioned abuse.

 

On May 12, a major commission on Hamas crimes released the results of a meticulous two-year investigation using photos, videos, and corroborated eyewitness testimony. The result was a massive catalogue of proof that Hamas used rape and sexual torture as a key tenet of its military strategy on October 7 and after. Suddenly the timing of the shockingly unethical Times piece, in preempting the results of an actual investigation into Hamas, became clear.

 

On May 28, the United Nations leaked word that its forthcoming annual sexual-violence blacklist would now include Israel. Though this was obviously unmerited, the UN had finally added Hamas to the blacklist a year earlier, and it was clear that the world body’s policy of false equivalence had to be applied even to this subject. But why release this nonsense now?

 

On June 8, it was announced that International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who had been pursuing cases against Israeli figures outside the court’s jurisdiction and at the behest of Hamas-aligned states, was being suspended. An investigation into Khan’s alleged sexual misconduct had found cause to remove him. Yet again, Israel’s accusers appear to be in preemption mode.

 

From Reuters:

 

A diplomatic source briefed on the decision told Reuters the court’s governing body’s executive bureau has ruled that Khan, 56, had committed serious misconduct. This followed an 18-month-long probe into accusations that the prosecutor had non-consensual sexual interactions with a female aide in his office. The source added that the bureau has recommended that the prosecutor be removed from office.

 

The ICC’s governing body will send its conclusion to all 125 ICC member states, which will vote on Khan’s fate in a special session. His removal will require a majority in a secret ballot, with sixty-three countries needing to support a measure to remove him.

 

So his job can still be saved, but the investigation is over. The ICC appears to have found that Khan, who is married, had “non-consensual sexual interactions” with his aide. That verdict has been delivered to the member states of the court. It is up to those states to decide whether the type of sexual coercion described in the investigation warrants losing his job or whether the hundred-plus countries in the ICC still want Khan to represent them.

 

Unless there is reason to fault the investigation, the sexual misconduct findings are likely to be enough to taint the “work” Khan was doing at the time, even if ICC member countries don’t think it warrants Khan’s removal. It’s important to remember that Khan’s alleged misbehavior was directly related to his frivolous prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

 

Since Israel isn’t part of the ICC, Khan had no jurisdiction to go after the Jewish state’s leaders in the first place. Compounding that lawlessness was the weakness of the case. When Khan issued requests for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, he had done so after canceling key investigatory trips to Israel.

 

What was the rush? It turned out, as the Wall Street Journal revealed last year, that Khan had been accused by a subordinate of sexual misconduct. According to court records, Khan was using his prosecution of Israelis to pressure his accuser to stay quiet. The Journal also reported that Qatar, Hamas’s financial and political patron, had encouraged Khan to push through the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant and suggested Doha would have his back if any trouble arose.

 

The whole thing appears to have been hopelessly corrupt from the get-go. Worse, court testimony paints the picture of a rogue and abusive prosecutor using his illegitimate prosecution of Israelis to shield himself from allegations of sexual assault.

 

Serious criminal accusations against Israel are not random. They are indications that Israel’s enemies have been found to have engaged in monstrous behavior that will soon be made public. It didn’t seem possible for Hamas’s defenders and enablers to be even further discredited, but here we are. Pay attention to the when, and you’ll figure out the why.