Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said on 22 November that he would invite his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to visit him and oppose the ICC arrest warrant.
On 21 November, the Hague-based court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Galant as well as Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif for "crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 to at least 20 May 2024".
Orban called the ICC decision "outrageously brazen and cynical." He said it "interfered in the ongoing conflict... in the form of a legal decision, but in fact for political purposes."
"We have no choice here, we have to oppose this decision. Later today, I will invite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Hungary, where I will guarantee him, if he comes, that the decision of the International Criminal Court will have no effect in Hungary and that we will not follow its conditions," he explained.
Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC, in 1999. The country ratified it two years later during Orban's first term as prime minister.
However, Budapest has not promulgated the related convention on constitutionality grounds and therefore claims that it is not bound to comply with the ICC decisions.
Previously, Hungary announced that it would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also wanted by the ICC on war crime charges for illegally deporting Ukrainian children.
Orban is the only EU leader to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and is one of Israel's closest partners in the bloc.
The Hungarian leader has already faced a backlash over his country's norm-breaking EU presidency, which saw him travel to Moscow immediately after taking up his six-month term in July. | BGNES
