Orban wants to invite Netanyahu to Hungary – despite an arrest warrant from the ICC

One day after an international arrest warrant was issued against Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister received a government invitation to Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Hungarian radio on Friday that he was inviting Netanyahu and guaranteeing that the arrest warrant would not be executed. The arrest warrant was “wrong.” Netanyahu could conduct negotiations in Hungary “with reasonable security.” Hungary currently holds the EU Council Presidency. The International Criminal Court in The Hague announced that Netanyahu was wanted on Thursday for alleged war crimes. Israel reacted indignantly, and reactions in Western countries were mixed.

The ICC does not have its own police force to enforce its arrest warrants and therefore relies on the cooperation of the 124 member states. Neither Israel nor its main ally, the United States, is a member of the ICC.

The USA fundamentally rejected the arrest warrants, and there was initially no statement from Germany. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the court decision must be respected and implemented. The Netherlands agreed to do so. Hungary currently holds the rotating EU Council Presidency. The national-conservative Orban has repeatedly come under criticism in the EU for going it alone, especially towards Russia. With regard to the Gaza war, Hungary has strongly supported Israel.

The ICC also issued arrest warrants against former Israeli Defense Minister Joaw Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri. The Criminal Court considers the accusation that Netanyahu and Gallant, as superiors, are criminally responsible for deliberate attacks on the civilian population and thus for war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Investigators accuse both men of starvation, murder, persecution and other inhumane acts as a means of warfare. The allegations against Al-Masri, a leader of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, are similar. However, it is unclear whether he is still alive. Israel said in August that it had killed the Hamas military chief in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s office called the arrest warrants anti-Semitic. “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false measures of the ICC (…),” the head of government said.

The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered on October 7, 2023 by the major attack on Israel by the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, in which, according to Israeli information, 1,206 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage. Since then, Israel has taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas health authority, which cannot be independently verified, at least 44,056 people were killed.