Hungary withdrawing from ICC amid Israeli leader’s visit

HUNGARY yesterday said it will quit the International Criminal Court, just as Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the tribunal has accused of war crimes in Gaza.

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The government announcement came as Orban welcomed Netanyahu in the capital Budapest on his first trip to Europe since 2023.

Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant that Hungary said it would not carry out, welcomed his hosts “bold and principled” decision to leave the tribunal.

Set up in 2002, the ICC, based in The Hague, seeks to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s gravest crimes when countries are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.

“It’s important for all democracies... It’s important to stand up to this corrupt organisation,” Netanyahu told a joint press conference with Orban.

Orban said the ICC was “no longer an impartial court” but a “political court” as shown “most clearly by the decisions on Israel”.