Hungary to withdraw from ICC as Netanyahu visits

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Chief of Staff, Gergely Goyas, announced today that the country's government has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court and that the relevant process will begin on Thursday.

Goyas said: "The government has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The process of terminating the jurisdiction (of this court) based on the constitution and the framework of international law will be initiated by the government on Thursday."

The decision of the Hungarian government was announced following the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, this morning.

Netanyahu and his wife Sara have begun a four-day official visit to the European country.

Netanyahu's visit to Hungary is his first visit to European soil since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in November 2024 on charges of war crimes in Gaza.

Following Hungary's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, the institution announced today that Hungary is obliged to cooperate with the court.

The Islamic resistance movement Hamas also condemned the Hungarian government's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court in a strong statement, calling it a sign of the country's clear complicity with a person who is internationally wanted for committing war crimes against the Palestinian people.

Hamas stressed that Hungary's decision is an immoral act that contradicts international law and is a clear example of the discriminatory policies of some Western governments, including Hungary and the United States.

The movement warned that withdrawing from the International Criminal Court would weaken the international judicial system, promote impunity for war criminals, and pose a serious threat to global peace and stability.

The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry also strongly criticized the Hungarian Prime Minister’s meeting with his Israeli counterpart, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, calling it an insult to international justice and a disregard for the rights of the Palestinian people.

According to the official Palestinian news agency (Wafa), a statement from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest is a sign of strengthening the policy of impunity and legitimizing the crimes of the occupying regime against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry stressed in the statement that hosting Netanyahu in Budapest came at a time when the Zionist regime’s war against the Palestinian people was intensifying, including genocide, displacement, and annexation of Palestinian lands to the occupied Palestinian territories.

The ministry also criticized the ignoring of the Zionist regime’s war crimes in the joint press conference between the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Israeli Prime Minister, calling it a dangerous setback in international relations.