Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at Karim Khan, the disgraced prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, comparing him to a "criminal", and at the same time confirmed his attendance at the UN General Assembly, despite opposition from the mayor of New York.

When questioned on the American channel Fox News about the ICC arrest warrant that has targeted him since 2024, Mr. Netanyahu considered it a "scam" launched by Karim Khan, now "completely unmasked as a criminal".

The man who was then the ICC prosecutor - he was dismissed from his post on Friday - "was going to be prosecuted for sexual harassment (...) so he thought: 'How am I going to divert attention from my criminal acts to something that will protect me?'" the Israeli leader judged.

"He defrauded the international community with these false accusations of war crimes against us," added Benjamin Netanyahu.

The member states of the International Criminal Court voted on Friday to terminate Karim Khan's mandate for "serious misconduct" and "gross dereliction of duty." The British national faces allegations of sexual assault by a member of his staff, which he denies.

The international institution, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants in 2024 against Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip as part of the Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation for the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

It was on this basis that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani last week called on US authorities to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he attended the UN General Assembly in September. A possibility rejected by Donald Trump.

"The mayor is spewing hatred; he is supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone, but he is trying to pit one group against another," the Israeli Prime Minister denounced on Sunday.

He claimed to have spoken with Jews in New York "and they are scared right now."

"I intend to come and tell the truth, to speak out in favor of Israel and the Israeli-American alliance from the podium of the United Nations," he added.

He is first expected in Washington on Tuesday for a meeting at the White House with Donald Trump, as hostilities between the United States and Iran have resumed for several weeks.