The Hungarian government has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. On Thursday, shortly after the Israeli guide Benjamin Netanyahu, who was classified under an ICC arrest order, came to a state visit in the country.
The right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited his Israeli counterpart to Budapest in November, one day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued his arrest warrant against war crimes in Gaza, in which Israel started his offensive after an attack by Hamas-led to South Israel. Hungary is a founding member of the ICC.
Israel has rejected the allegations that are politically motivated and driven according to anti -Semitism. It is said that the ISTGH has lost all legitimacy by issuing the arrest warrants against a democratically elected leader of a country that has the right to self -defense.
As a founding member, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over someone who is subject to an arrest warrant of the court, but Orban made it clear that Hungary would not respect the verdict that he called “brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable”.
Hungary signed the founding document of the ICC in 1999 and ratified it in 2001, but the law was not announced.
Gergly Gulyas, chief of staff of Orban, said in November that Hungary the Rome Statute of the ICC, although “it has never been made a Hungarian law into a Hungarian law”, which means that no measure of the court can be carried out within Hungary.
On Thursday, Gulyas informed the MTI state news agency that the government would start the retreat process later a day.
Hungary increased the view of ICC exit after the US sanctions
Orban had raised the prospect of Hungary’s exit from the ICC after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions from prosecutor Karim Khan in February.
“It is time for Hungary to check what we do in an international organization that is under US sanctions,” said Orban in February to X.
The bill at the beginning of the one-year withdrawal process from the ICC is probably approved by the Hungary Parliament, which is dominated by Orban’s Fidesz Party.
The Netherlands that accommodate the ICC said that Hungary had to fulfill its duties until the deduction.
“The full process to withdraw from the ICC takes about a year; during this time, Hungary has to fulfill all of his obligations to the court,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp to reporters on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.
Over the years, Netanyahu has strong support from Hungary Orban, an important ally who was ready to block EU statements or actions that Israel is critical in the past.
The ICC judges said when they issued the arrest warrant that there were reasonable reasons to be responsible for criminal acts, including murder, persecution and hunger as a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of the Gaza”.
According to the Palestinian health authorities, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and destroyed the Gaza Strip on the ground. The attack on Israel led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 killed 1,200 people and, according to Israeli days, recorded more than 250 hostages.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant against a Hamas leader in November. His death was confirmed after the arrest warrant was issued.
