Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu applauded Hungary for its “bold and principled” decision to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) as he visited Budapest on Thursday, in a rare trip abroad in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant.
Netanyahu, invited by Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, faces the ICC arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the Palestinian enclave.
Hungary, which is a founding member of the ICC, has rejected the idea of arresting the Israeli prime minister and has called the warrant “brazen.”
In an announcement timed with Netanyahu’s visit on Thursday, Orban said Hungary would withdraw completely from the ICC, an organization set up more than two decades ago to prosecute those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
“This is no longer an impartial court, a rule-of-law court, but rather a political court. This has become the …