Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that the warrant, which was issued over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, ‘will not be observed.’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Hungary on April 2, his office confirmed on March 30.
The trip comes in defiance of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of war crimes by Israel in its response to the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
During the five-day visit, scheduled to start on April 2 and end on April 6, Netanyahu will meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who invited him in November 2024, just days after the ICC issued the warrant.
Orban said at the time that the warrant would “not be observed” during the Israeli leader’s visit to the Central European country.
All European Union member states, including Hungary, are among the 124 nations that are signatories to the ICC, meaning they are required to enforce warrants issued by the court as per the Rome Statute of 1998.
There was no immediate comment by Hungary about this week’s visit.
However, earlier in March, Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said at a news conference, where the impending visit by Netanyahu was being discussed, that he would “very much support” Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC.
He argued it had “lost its meaning by conducting political instead of legal activities,” but added that the government in Budapest had not made any decision on the matter of continued Hungarian membership of the court.
Other EU states have also signaled that they would not comply with the warrant relating to Netanyahu.
Germany’s likely chancellor-to-be Friedrich Merz said after last month’s general election that he would find “ways and means” to have Netanyahu come to the country.
“I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” Merz said in February.
Poland, too, said that it would not arrest Netanyahu if he chose to attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in January. However, in the end, Netanyahu did not make the trip.
By Guy Birchall
