By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Human rights group Amnesty International urged Hungary on Monday to “hand over” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after officials confirmed that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will host him later this week.
Netanyahu will fly to Budapest on Wednesday, April 2, and return to Israel on Sunday, April 6, his office confirmed, despite the lCC’s arrest warrant against him.
The trip is controversial as in November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and al-Qassam brigades commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri on charges of “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Netanyahu’s alleged wrongdoings are linked to Israel’s war in Gaza. The armed conflict began after Hamas, on October 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages from southern Israel to the Gaza Strip.
However, as soon as the ICC arrest warrant was issued, Hungary’s Prime Minister Orbán invited Netanyahu, whom he considers a close political ally and friend.
Orbán told Hungarian radio in November that the ICC’s arrest warrant was “wrong” and added that the Israeli leader would be able to conduct negotiations in Hungary “in adequate safety.”
“I will invite Israel’s prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary, and in that invite, I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents,” Orbán added despite his country being an ICC member.
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Leaders from other ICC member states, such as France, Germany, Italy, and Poland, have also implied that they would not arrest Netanyahu if he traveled to their countries.
Additionally, the United States, which isn’t an ICC member, enacted sanctions against the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan.
Yet Erika Guevara-Rosas, the head of Global Research, Advocacy and Policy of Amnesty International, condemned Hungary’s invitation to Netanyahu without legal consequences. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is an alleged war criminal, who is accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally attacking civilians and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” she stressed.
Guevara-Rosas said that as an ICC member, Hungary “must arrest him if he travels to the country and hand him over to the Court” in The Hague, Netherlands.
“Any trip he takes to an ICC member state that does not end in his arrest would embolden Israel to commit further crimes against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she warned.
Israel’s government has denied the allegations and said its operations against Hamas – which is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. – comply with international laws.
Netanyahu arrives in Hungary at a time of Jewish revival. The country hosts up to 120,000 Jews, Eastern Europe’s largest Jewish community outside Russia.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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