Hungarian officials signaled plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court shortly after the Israeli Prime Minister touched down in Budapest.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in Hungary overnight, stepping out for the first time into a country that recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court which issued a warrant for his arrest last year.
The possibility of his arrest seemed distant however, after Hungary’s right-wing Prime minister Viktor Orbán, a well known supporter of Israel, vowed to defy the court’s directive shortly after it was issued in November. Orbán could be seen in video on Thursday welcoming Netanyahu and his wife Sara to the capital Budapest.
Hungarian officials on Thursday signaled that the country may withdraw from the ICC, which accused Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.
As the conflict nears its 18th month, Israel ramped up its operations in the enclave, and Netanyahu announced Wednesday night that the Israeli military had begun “seizing territory” across the strip.
He added that his country was planning to establish the “Morag” corridor, which he said would be similar to the Philadelphi security corridor that cuts across Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
“We are now cutting off the Strip and we are increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “And the more they do not give, the more the pressure will increase.”
His comments came hours after his Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that “Operation Might and Sword” would be expanding, with the Israeli military seizing large swathes of the enclave to add to its security zones.
Israel launched its assault after the Hamas-led terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
More than 50,000 people since Israel’s military campaign since then according to health officials in the enclave which has been run by the militant group since 2007.
Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza last month, shattering a ceasefire with Hamas that brought relative calm to the enclave for a two-month period, during which dozens of hostages held by the militant group were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Efforts to resume the truce have so far failed to yield results, with Israel blocking the flow of aid and goods into Gaza for more than a month now, marking the longest aid blockade since the war began.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have all called on Hungary to uphold international law and detain Netanyahu upon his arrival in the country and transfer him the Hague in the Netherlands where the ICC is based.
Hungary is a member country of the court but it has never incorporated its terms into the country’s domestic legal code.
Shortly after Netanyahu’s arrival, Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, told state news agency MTI that the country would look to withdraw from the ICC, according to Reuters.
Neither Israel nor the U.S. recognize the jurisdiction of the world court, which has no staff to enforce its warrants and relies on law enforcement officials in member states to enforce them.
Despite close ties between Orbán and Netanyahu, the Hungarian leader has previously been accused of using antisemitic tropes to firm up his support at home.
In 2019, a government funded campaign vilified the Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist George Soros who is Jewish, prompting criticism from the European Union and anti-racism groups.
Four years later a billboard campaign featured the slogan, “Let’s not dance to their tune,” alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Soros’ son, Alex Soros.
