Just hours after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is subject to an ICC arrest order for claimed war crimes in Gaza, Hungary will start the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to government comments Thursday.
Targeting a democratically elected leader engaging in self-defence, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has branded the warrant “brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable,” stating that the court has lost authority by doing so.
Arriving in Budapest for a state visit, Netanyahu invited only one day after the ICC issued the warrant in November.
Orban, who has earlier stopped European Union actions critical of Israel, has long been a solid friend to the Israeli leader.
Originally an ICC member, Hungary approved the Rome Statute in 2001.
Orban’s administration contends, however, that the pact was never translated into domestic law and so has no legal obligation to carry out the warrant.
Gergely Gulyas, chief of staff for Orban, verified Thursday that the government will formally start the leave process later in the day.
Mostly controlled by Orban’s ruling Fidesz party, a bill is likely to pass easily in Hungary’s parliament.
The action complies with US sanctions applied earlier this year by President Donald Trump on ICC prosecutor Karim Khan. Orban had mentioned those measures in February, urging Hungary to rethink its involvement in a group under attack by friends.
The ICC charged former defense chief of Israel and Netanyahu with crimes including murder, persecution, and weapon of war use of famine.
According to Gaza’s health officials, since the Israeli onslaught started, over 50,000 Palestinians have passed away. For a top Hamas leader whose death was subsequently verified, the ICC also issued a warrant.
Since then, the Israeli campaign has claimed over 50,000 Palestinians dead and ravaged the Gaza Strip, sparking demonstrations all around and driving South Africa to start independent legal action in the International Court of Justice, another body than the ICC, charging Israel of genocide.
Netanyahu traveled to Hungary.
On Thursday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu starts a four-day trip to Hungary defying an International Criminal Court arrest demand for claims of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has increased its military offensive in the region.
Hungary, a founding member of the ICC, is theoretically required to arrest and turn over anyone subject to a court warrant; Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made plain when he sent the invitation that Hungary would not obey the decision.
Netanyahu, who is fighting a political storm at home over an inquiry into possible links between Qatar and three of his aides, is set to meet Orban ahead of a press appearance at roughly 1000 GMT.
Regarding his advisers, Netanyahu has refuted the charges calling them “fake news”. Dismissing the charges as part of a “smear campaign” aimed against Qatar, a Qatari official has
Apart from a scheduled visit to a Holocaust monument, the journey will be the second he has undertaken overseas since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant last November. Details of his programme have been few.
