Hungarian PM Viktor Orban made a bold-move yesterday declaring he would not follow ICCʼs arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The warrant which targets Netanyahu a Hamas leader and former defense-chief came out just a day ago (its worth noting that all three face war-crimes allegations)
The right-wing Hungarian leader whoʼs currently holding EUʼs rotating presidency said: “The ICC ruling is wrong“ and promised to make Budapest a safe-place for negotiations. In his radio speech he stated that his country wont observe the warrant; making Hungary the first EU nation to take such position
Their friendship goes way-back — since Orbanʼs rise to power about 14 years ago both leaders built strong ties (Netanyahu even visited Budapest roughly 7 years ago). This latest development shows growing disagreement within EU: while some nations like Hungary and Czech Republic back Israel others including Spain and Ireland support Palestinians
The White House joined in criticizing ICCʼs decision while EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that member-states must follow the courts ruling. Czech PM Petr Fiala called it “unfortunate“ on social-media
The move undermines its authority in other cases when it equates the elected representatives of a democratic state with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organization