Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, stated on Friday that he rejects arrest warrant issued for Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged “war crimes” in Gaza. He said he would invite Netanyahu to visit and defy a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
The Hague-based court on Thursday issued warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024”
However, the Hungarian PM called the ICC’s decision “outrageously brazen and “cynical”, adding that it “intervenes in an ongoing conflict… dressed up as a legal decision, but in fact for political purposes”.
“There is no choice here, we have to defy this decision,” he said in his weekly interview with state radio, news agency AFP reported. Orban stressed that the judgement by the ICC will have no effect in Hungary.
“Later today, I will invite the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, to visit Hungary, where I will guarantee him, if he comes, that the judgment of the International Criminal Court will have no effect in Hungary, and that we will not follow its terms,” he stated.
The ICC on Thursday had said that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that both Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”.
Hungary, in 1999, had signed the Rome Statute, which led to the creation of the the ICC but it ratified it two years later during Orban’s first term in office.
Budapest has not declared the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality, asserting it is not obliged to comply with the decisions made by ICC. Previously Hungary had said it will not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin either, who has been accused of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children, for which he is wanted by the ICC, AFP reported.
The Hungarian PM is the only leader in the European Union to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Orban is also one of the closest partner of Israel in the EU.
Orban has already faced criticism for his country’s norm-defying EU presidency, which saw him going to Moscow soon after taking over the six-month stint in July.
