Hungary says ICC being ‘used as a political tool’, vows not to enforce arrest warrants if issued

BUDAPEST – The International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “unacceptable” and could not be enforced in Budapest, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff says.

Gergely Gulyas tells a news briefing that, although Hungary ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it “was never made part of Hungarian law,” meaning that no measure of the court can be carried out within Hungary.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced earlier this week that he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.

Representatives of both sides slammed Khan’s decision.

“This decision… is not a legal but a political decision, it is unacceptable and it discredits the International Criminal Court,” Gulyas says.

“It is wrong to use a court as a political tool, and it should not be forgotten what led to what is happening in Gaza, and that is a ruthless, dishonest and vile terrorist attack on Israel,” he says.

Netanyahu has long had close relations with the Hungarian prime minister, who has been in power since 2010.