Hungary to withdraw from ICC to avoid arresting war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu

Hungary has said on Thursday, 3 April, that it will begin the procedure of withdrawing from the world's only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide.

“Hungary will withdraw from the International Criminal Court,” Gergely Gulyás, who is Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's chief of staff, wrote in a brief statement. “The government will initiate the withdrawal procedure on Thursday, in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework.”

The announcement came as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, despite an international arrest warrant against him over his conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Hungary's government, led by right-wing populist Orbán, extended the invitation to Netanyahu in November 2024 after the ICC, based in the Hague, Netherlands, issued the warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity.

Orbán, a close Netanyahu ally, has called the arrest warrant “outrageously impudent” and “cynical.” Member countries of the ICC, such as Hungary, are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that and relies on states to comply with its rulings.

Agreeing with Hungary has been the US' two-time president Donald Trump, who actually retaliated against the ICC on Netanyahu's behalf with an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court.

On his visit to the US in September 2024, before Trump came to power, Netanyahu had told the United Nations that the ‘real war criminals’ were not in Israel and suggested they were rather in Gaza, pointing to the Hamas militants. He did cut his trip short, however, and there were legendary walkouts from several member nations’ representatives when he arrived to address the UN General Assembly at the time.

With AP/PTI inputs