Key Points
- The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.
- As a founding ICC member, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest anyone subject to a warrant from the court.
- But Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says the country will not respect the ruling, and withdraw from the ICC.
Hungary’s government has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said on Thursday, shortly after Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu — who has an ICC arrest warrant against him — arrived in the country for a state visit.
Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán invited his Israeli counterpart to Budapest in November, a day after the ICC over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched its ongoing offensive following an attack by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel.
Israel has rejected the accusations, which it says are politically motivated and fuelled by antisemitism, and claims the ICC has lost legitimacy.
As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court, but Orbán made clear that Hungary would not respect the ruling, which he called “brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable”.
Hungary signed the ICC’s founding document in 1999 and ratified it in 2001, but the law has not been promulgated.
Gergely Gulyas, Orbán’s chief of staff, said in November that although Hungary ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC, it “was never made part of Hungarian law”, meaning that no measure of the court can be carried out within Hungary.
On Thursday, Gulyas told state news agency MTI that the government would launch the withdrawal process later in the day.
Orbán had raised the prospect of Hungary’s exit from the ICC after United States President Donald Trump in February.
“It’s time for Hungary to review what we’re doing in an international organization that is under U.S. sanctions,” Orbán said on X in February.
The bill on starting the year-long process of withdrawing from the ICC is likely to be approved by Hungary’s parliament, which is dominated by Orbán’s Fidesz party.
Netanyahu has enjoyed strong support over the years from Orban, an important ally who has been ready to block EU statements or actions critical of Israel in the past.
ICC judges said when they issued the warrant that there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and his former defence chief were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza”.
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 killed 1,200 people and more than 250 hostages were taken, according to Israeli tallies.
In November, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant against former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif.
Israel had earlier said it killed Deif in an airstrike in July. His death was confirmed by Hamas after the warrant was issued.
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