Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his visit to Hungary on Thursday. I am certain that Europe's self-declared “illegal democracy” will ignore the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court in November.
The visit was the first in the country where Netanyahu recognized the jurisdiction of the court, and at least in theory, increases the likelihood that he would be arrested. He visited Washington to discuss Gaza with President Trump in February, but the United States has never recognized international courts like Israel.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Victor Orban's government has made it clear that he ignored his obligations as a party to the 1998 treaty that established the court.
Orban invited Netanyahu right after the court issued the arrest warrant and assured him that “the ICC's ruling is ineffective in Hungary and we will not comply with the terms.”
Hungary's vast propaganda machine leaps towards anti-Semitic ratios in the non-stop slander of Hungarian-born American investor and Jewish philanthropist George Soros. It cast him as an ominous puppet with a vast global plot backed by high finances and hidden cosmopolitan forces.
But Orban, a powerful supporter of Israel, has embraced the country's right-wing prime minister as a kinship that is in harmony with his own nationalist views and respect for national sovereignty without foreign interference.
The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Joab Gallant, criticising them for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, and struck Israel's global position.
For Netanyahu, the Hungarian visit offers him the opportunity to project strength and politics overseas at home while opposing his leadership both inside and outside Israel.
Netanyahu travels to Europe and signalled the world that Israel's conduct of war in Gaza has been criticised by many European governments, but he has not been affected by court arrest warrants. He also signaled Israeli critics. Israel is caught up in a growing list of domestic crisis.
Amnesty International has denounced the visit to Hungary as “a sarcastic effort to undermine the ICC and its work,” describing it as “a humiliation to the victims of these crimes who are seeking judges in courts.” The Hungarian invitation added that it “indicates light emptying against international law.”
For Orban, who has been segregated within the European Union, welcoming Israeli Prime Minister against the international courts offers an opportunity to plunge himself into the spotlight and attract Washington's attention. President Trump, even as a worshiper of Orban, has shown little obvious interest in Hungary since taking office in January.
Like Netanyahu, Orban faces many domestic issues, including Hungary, which has the highest inflation rate in the European Union, and emerging opposition movements in the country led by former Orban loyalists.
Before the November election, Trump often praised Orban as a “great leader,” but he didn't invite him to the inauguration. Hungary said this was because foreign leaders were not invited, but several people were present, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Trump, a fierce critic of the court, signed an executive order to sanction the international court in February, vowing to impose “specific and serious consequences” on those working on investigations deemed to threaten the national security of the United States and Israel.
Netanyahu voiced off bribery, fraud and other accusations against him in Israel as a judicial effort to derail the will of voters. Similarly, Orban frequently denounces what he considers as an overdue of justice by European courts that controlled Hungary for violations of European Union regulations.
“We have always been opposed to judicial activities,” Orban said at a November summit of European leaders in Budapest, Hungary's capital.
Hungary in 2001 ratified the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court during Orban's first term as prime minister, but its parliament did not incorporate the terms into the country's domestic legal code.
Orban's Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyas said last month that the omission released Hungary from its obligation to act on a court decision. He said Hungary is considering withdrawing from the court, but no decision has been made yet.
Patrick Kingsley contributed a report from Jerusalem.
