Orban invites Netanyahu to Hungary amid ICC arrest warrant controversy
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for the NATO 75th Anniversary Celebratory Event at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2024. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to visit Hungary but several other European nations said the Israeli premier would be detained if he set foot on their soil, following the issuing of an arrest warrant for him.
Assuring Netanyahu that he would face no risks if he visited Hungary, Orban branded the arrest warrants a "brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable decision", News.Az reports, citing Reuters.Orban, who is often at odds with his EU peers, has forged warm ties with Netanyahu.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, and for a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
"Today I will invite Israel's prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary and in that invite I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents," Orban said.
All EU countries are members of the ICC and, as such, have an obligation to carry out its warrants. However EU heavyweights Germany and France declined to say what they would do if the Israeli leader entered their territory, while non-EU Britain - also an ICC member - was similarly circumspect in its response.
The ICC, which does not have its own police force to carry out arrests, has only limited diplomatic means to force countries to act if they do not want to.
The Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Italy and Spain are among EU states that have said they would meet their ICC commitments. Cyprus, which has close ties to Israel, regards the warrants as binding in principle, a government source told Reuters.
Berlin said it would not spell out what it would do until and unless Netanyahu planned
to travel to Germany.
Germany "is one of the biggest supporters of the ICC - this attitude is also the result of German history," a government spokesperson sai
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