Hungary defies ICC, welcomes Netanyahu with full military honors

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was welcomed with full honors in Budapest on Thursday, where he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The ceremony, held at the historic Buda Castle, included a military honor guard and a display of diplomatic pageantry.

Orbán posted a message on X welcoming Netanyahu to the country, calling it "the safest place in Europe."

Netanyahu landed in Hungary in the early hours of Thursday morning for a four-day visit at the invitation of Orbán.

"Welcome to Budapest, Benjamin Netanyahu!" Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky posted to social media, greeting Netanyahu at the airport with a military honor guard.

Orbán invited Netanyahu in November, a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli premier and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Although Hungary is a signatory to the ICC and obliged to act on its warrants, Orbán wrote in a Nov. 22 letter to Netanyahu that he was "shocked" by the court’s "shameful decision."

He vowed it would have "no impact whatsoever on the Hungarian-Israeli alliance and friendship" and extended an invitation to Netanyahu, promising his country "will ensure your safety and freedom."

The ICC has no enforcement arm and relies on member states to carry out its warrants.

Orbán told Hungarian public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that the ICC decision was "fundamentally wrong" and an "outrageously brazen" political decision that would lead to "the discrediting of international law," The New York Times reported at the time.

The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed from at least Oct. 8, 2023, until at least May 20, 2024, the day the prosecution filed the applications for warrants.

In a separate statement, the court ordered the arrest of Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s "military" wing, who according to the Israel Defense Forces was killed in an airstrike on July 13.

Netanyahu wants to undermine the ICC’s decision by "flying to places where there’s no risk of arrest, and in doing so, he’s also paving the way to normalize his future travels," Moshe Klughaft, an international strategic consultant and former adviser to Netanyahu, told AFP.

"His ultimate goal is to regain the ability to travel wherever he wants," he said.

This is the second international visit for Netanyahu since the ICC issued its warrants. In February, he visited the United States to meet with President Donald Trump.

On Feb. 6, Trump sanctioned the ICC via executive order for its arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. The sanctions hit ICC officials, employees and their immediate family members with financial penalties and visa restrictions.

The ICC has initiated "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel," the executive order stated.

The court’s "malign conduct" threatens "to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel."

Netanyahu will depart Hungary on Sunday.

© JNS