Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by welcoming the “moral clarity” of his counterpart: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, announced this Friday, November 22 to invite the Israeli Prime Minister to protest against the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him. “We have no choice but to defy this decision. Later today, I will invite “Benyamin Netanyahu” to come to Hungary, where I can guarantee him that the ICC judgment will not have any impact. “effect,” he said in an interview on state radio.
According to the nationalist leader, unconditional support of the Israeli leader, it is a “shameless decision, disguised for legal purposes” leading to “a discredit of international law”. “Faced with the shameful weakness of those who supported the scandalous decision [qui remet en cause, ndlr] the right of the State of Israel to defend itself, Hungary – like our friends, the United States – demonstrates moral clarity and places itself on the side of justice and truth”, replied Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a press release from its services.
After more than a year of conflict in Gaza, the Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants against him and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, provoking the fury of Israel . Described as “scandalous” by Joe Biden, this decision limits the travel of the two Israeli officials since in principle, any of the 124 member states of the court would theoretically be obliged to arrest them if they entered their territory.
The previous Vladimir Putin
Hungary did sign the Rome Statute, an international treaty that created the ICC in 1999, ratified two years later, during Viktor Orban’s first term. But it did not validate the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore claims not to be obliged to comply with the decisions of the court based in The Hague.
In March 2023, the central European country also said it would not hand over Russian President Vladimir Putin to the ICC if he visited Hungary. Since taking over the biannual presidency of the Council of the EU in July, Viktor Orban, who has remained close to the Kremlin, has increased the “provocations” according to his European peers, notably with his visit to Moscow at the beginning of July decided without consultation.
France for its part “takes note” of the arrest warrants issued Thursday by the ICC, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared on Friday. “Faithful to its long-standing commitment to supporting international justice”, Paris “recalls its attachment to the independent work of the Court”, it underlines in a press release, without explicitly specifying whether France would arrest him if Benyamin Netanyahu was visiting his territory.