Israel's Netanyahu to visit Hungary April 2 despite ICC warrant
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold talks with senior Hungarian officials.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Hungary on April 2, his office announced on March 30, defying an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
During his visit, Mr Netanyahu is set to hold talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other senior Hungarian officials before returning to Israel on April 6.
Mr Orban extended an invitation to Mr Netanyahu despite the ICC’s arrest warrant issued in 2024.
One day after the ICC decision in November 2024, Mr Netanyahu thanked Mr Orban for his show of “moral clarity” in extending the invitation.
Mr Netanyahu’s office at the time published what it said was a letter from Mr Orban in which the Hungarian Premier denounced the ICC decision as a “shameful” move.
The ICC issued warrants for Mr Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes – including starvation as a method of warfare – in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The war was sparked by the militant Palestinian group’s attack against Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC, in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Mr Orban’s first term in office.
However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore asserts it is not obliged to comply with ICC decisions. AFP
