BUDAPEST: Hungary’s government has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, it said on Thursday, shortly after Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, sought under an ICC arrest warrant, arrived in the country for a state visit.

Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited his Israeli counterpart to Budapest in November, a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched its offensive following an attack by Hamas fighters on southern Israel.

Israel has rejected the accusations, which it says are politically motivated and fuelled by antisemitism. It says the ICC has lost all legitimacy by issuing the warrants against a democratically elected leader of a country exercising the right of self defence.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court, but Orban made clear that Hungary would not respect the ruling which he called “brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable”.

Court’s governing body says departure harms ‘shared quest for justice’

Hungary signed the ICC’s founding document in 1999 and ratified it in 2001, but the law has not been promulgated.

Gergely Gulyas, Orban’s chief of staff, said in November that although Hungary ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC, it “was never made part of Hungarian law”, meaning that no measure of the court can be carried out within Hungary.

On Thursday, Gulyas told state news agency MTI that the government would launch the withdrawal process later in the day.

Orban had raised the prospect of Hungary’s exit from the ICC after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the court’s prosecutor Karim Khan in February.

“It’s time for Hungary to review what we’re doing in an international organisation that is under US sanctions,” Orban said on X in February.

The bill on starting the year-long process of withdrawing from the ICC is likely to be approved by Hungary’s parliament that is dominated by Orban’s Fidesz party.

The Netherlands, which hosts the ICC, said that until withdrawal is complete, Hungary must still meet its duties.

“The full process to withdraw from the ICC takes about a year, during that time Hungary will have to fulfil all its obligations to the court,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told reporters on the sidelines of a Nato meeting in Brussels.

ICC regrets

Meanwhile, the ICC governing body on Thursday voiced regret and concern over Hungary’s announcement, saying any departure harmed a “shared quest for justice”.

“When a State Party withdraws from the Rome Statute (that established the ICC), it clouds our shared quest for justice and weakens our resolve to fight impunity,” the presidency of the Assembly of State Parties said in a statement.

The court is “at the centre of the global commitment to accountability” and the international community should “support it without reservation”, the statement added. “Justice requires our unity.”

The governing body also extended an olive branch to Hungary, saying every member of the court “has the right to voice its concerns before the Assembly”.

“The presidency strongly encourages Hungary to have a meaningful discussion on this issue.” In the meantime, the body urged Hungary to “continue to be a resolute party to the Rome Statute”.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2025