Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading on a four-day visit to Hungary, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
Hungary, a founding ICC member, is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court. However, Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear it would not respect the ruling.
Netanyahu is expected to meet Orban in Budapest on Wednesday evening. Details of their planned programme have been limited to a visit to a Holocaust memorial.
The trip will be Netanyahu’s second abroad since the ICC issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November last year. The Israeli prime minister visited Washington in February to meet close ally US President Donald Trump. Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC.
The Hague-based court has criticised Hungary’s decision to defy its warrant for Netanyahu. The court’s spokesperson, Fadi El Abdallah, said that it is not for parties to the ICC “to unilaterally determine the soundness of the Court’s legal decisions”.
Participating states have an obligation to enforce its decisions, El Abdallah told The Associated Press news agency in an email, and may consult with the court if they disagree with its rulings.
“Any dispute concerning the judicial functions of the Court shall be settled by the decision of the Court,” El Abdallah said.
Orban has been the EU’s most intransigent spoiler in the bloc’s decision making and is seen as a pioneer of some of the same tactics that Netanyahu has been accused of employing in Israel, including the subjugation of the judiciary and a crackdown on civil society and human rights groups.
Disregard for the rule of law
The European Green Party has called for Netanyahu to be arrested and face the ICC trial.
“The European Union and national governments have a duty to uphold international law and ensure accountability for war crimes and human rights abuses,” said the party co-chair Ciaran Cuffe in a statement.
“By ignoring the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu, Viktor Orban is showing the same disregard for the rule of law on the international stage that he has consistently shown in Hungary,” Cuffe added.
The ICC issued arrest warrants after assessing there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity”.
Israel has rejected all the accusations, which it says are politically motivated and fuelled by anti-Semitism.
