Hungary exits international court after Netanyahu warrant
The Hungarian parliament has voted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The process will take a year.
What do you need to know?
- In April, Viktor Orban announced that Hungary would withdraw from the International Criminal Court.
- The decision is in response to the ICC issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The Hungarian parliament supported the initiative, and the procedure will take a year.
On 3rd April, Viktor Orban's government announced it would begin the process of withdrawing from the ICC. The timing of the decision was not coincidental, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Budapest that day. The ICC had issued an international arrest warrant for him in connection with attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Orban's representative, Gergely Gulyás, stated that the ICC was a "respectable initiative" but had become a "political body."
Parliament voted to withdraw from the ICC
The Hungarian parliament supported the government's initiative. 134 deputies voted to withdraw from the ICC, 37 were against, and 7 abstained. The formal process will take approximately a year.
Viktor Orban had already rejected the ICC's decision in November of the previous year and invited Netanyahu for an official visit. He declared that the ICC's verdict was "outrageously impudent," "cynical," as well as an intervention driven by political motives in the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
