Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Hungary, as both he and the Hungarian government defy an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant seeking his arrest over alleged war crimes in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“We welcome the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Budapest!” Hungary’s Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky wrote on Facebook, alongside several photos of Netanyahu being received on a red carpet by the minister and a military honour guard.

Netanyahu’s invitation to Hungary by Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been slammed by Amnesty International, who said the move was a “cynical effort to undermine the ICC”.

Hungary is a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and has a legal obligation to detain Netanyahu on behalf of the court.

Editorial

06 Aug, 2026

Need for dialogue

THE interior minister’s comments at an Islamabad seminar last week have sparked many a conversation about the ...
06 Aug, 2026

Bad press

THE government’s move to impose restrictions on international media will not only alienate the foreign press, it...
06 Aug, 2026

Automobile concerns

PAKISTAN’S automobile industry is at a critical juncture. Sharp cuts in tariffs on the import of completely built...
Updated 05 Aug, 2026

State of confusion

FROM the looks of it, America has no exit strategy to extricate itself from the disastrous war with Iran. US...
05 Aug, 2026

Pension decision

THE government’s decision to formally operationalise the new Defined Contribution Pension Fund Scheme is a step...
05 Aug, 2026

Preventable deaths

THE deaths of 144 children from measles and diphtheria in Karachi during the first seven months of the year expose a...