Welcoming Netanyahu, Hungary Announces Withdrawal from ICC

Prime Minister Netanyahu landed in Hungary in the early hours of Thursday morning for a four-day visit at the invitation of Hungarian premier Viktor Orban.

By Ben Rappaport, United with Israel and David Isaac, JNS

Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Hungary for a visit at the invitation of Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, the head of Hungarian Orban’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, announced that Hungary would be terminating its membership with the International Criminal Court (ICC), citing the arrest warrant the ICC issued several months ago against Netanyahu.

The ICC “used to be a respectable initiative, but recently it seems to have become a political body,” Gulyás said, according to Daily News Hungary. He pointed to the ICC’s “pressing charges against Israeli head of government Benjamin Netanyahu” as “the saddest example” of this.

“The Hungarian government considers all that unacceptable and has decided not to continue participation in the ICC’s activities,” he declared.

Gulyás said Hungary would be starting the termination procedure “within the constitutional and international legal framework” on Thursday.

Netanyahu landed in Hungary in the early hours of Thursday morning for a four-day visit at Orban’s invitation.

“Welcome to Budapest, #BenjaminNetanyahu!” Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky posted to social media, greeting Netanyahu at the airport with full military honors.

Orban invited Netanyahu in November of last year, a day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli premier and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

Orban wrote in a Nov. 22 letter to Netanyahu that he was “shocked” by the court’s “shameful decision.”

He vowed it would have “no impact whatsoever on the Hungarian-Israeli alliance and friendship” and extended an invitation to Netanyahu, promising that his country “will ensure your safety and freedom.”

The ICC has no enforcement arm of its own and relies on member states to carry out its warrants.

Orban told Hungarian public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that the ICC decision was “fundamentally wrong” and an “outrageously brazen” political decision that would lead to “the discrediting of international law,” The New York Times reported at the time.

The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least Oct. 8, 2023, until at least May 20, 2024, the day the prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.

In a separate statement, the court ordered the arrest of Mohammed Deif, the supreme commander of Hamas’s military wing, who according to the Israel Defense Forces was killed in an airstrike on July 13.

Netanyahu wants to undermine the ICC’s decision by “flying to places where there’s no risk of arrest, and in doing so, he’s also paving the way to normalize his future travels,” Moshe Klughaft, an international strategic consultant and former advisor to Netanyahu, told AFP.

“His ultimate goal is to regain the ability to travel wherever he wants,” he said.

This is only the second international visit for Netanyahu since the ICC issued its warrants. In February, he visited the United States to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Feb. 6, Trump sanctioned the ICC via executive order for its arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. The sanctions hit ICC officials, employees and their immediate family members with financial penalties and visa restrictions.

The ICC has initiated “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” the executive order stated.

The court’s “malign conduct” threatens “to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel.”

Netanyahu will depart Hungary on Sunday.

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