Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will pay an official visit to Hungary in the next few weeks, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said on Thursday, Reuters has reported. The visit will be made in defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for the Israeli leader.
Orban invited Netanyahu to visit Hungary last November, saying he would guarantee that the arrest warrant, issued a day earlier over Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza, would “not be observed”.
“According to current plans, Prime Minister Netanyahu will arrive before Easter,” Gergely Gulyas told a news conference. “Once the date of the visit is confirmed, we will, of course, announce it, taking into account the extremely important security considerations in this case.”
Several other European nations have said that Netanyahu would be detained if he set foot on their soil. All European Union member states, including Hungary, are members of the ICC, which means that they are required to enforce its warrants. Orban, a right-wing nationalist, has often been at odds with the EU over democratic standards and human rights in Hungary.
The ICC issued arrest warrants on 21 November, 2024 for Netanyahu and his former defence chief, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
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